Implementing a day-1 discharge pathway for minimally invasive colon surgery is safe and effective.

• Discharge rates jumped from 4.6% to 65.0% after pathway adoption (p < 0.001).
• Median hospital stay shrank from 3.0 to 1.0 days (p < 0.001), with no increase in readmissions (p = 0.43) or severe complications (p = 0.91).

Tailor discharge decisions based on individualized recovery rather than fixed characteristics, paving the way for broader adoption of day-1 discharges.