Designing and Running a Preoperative Clinic.

Value in health care has been described as quality divided by cost, where quality is the sum of patient outcomes and experience. A well-run preoperative evaluation clinic (PEC) offers many opportunities to improve the value of the care delivered to patients by reducing the associated costs and improving the quality of care. Certain patient education and medical optimization strategies initiated in the PEC clinic are linked to an improvement in patients' long-term health outcomes. When designing a PEC, it is important to address the PEC's mission and scope with all stakeholders early in the process.