The incidence of total joint arthroplasty is increasing, with added emphasis on shifting care towards outpatient surgery. This has demonstrated improvements in costs and care; however, safety must be prioritized. Published assessment tools highlight candidates for outpatient surgery; however, they often do not define patients who have a worse prognosis. Limited healthcare resources occasionally force patients to convert to outpatient surgery or risk cancellation, creating a dilemma for both patients and surgeons. We evaluated the short-term (90-day) outcomes of patients converted from planned inpatient admission to same-day discharge on day of surgery outpatients and sought to identify any groups at risk, who may not be appropriate for this conversion. We identified all patients undergoing planned inpatient total hip or knee arthroplasty at a tertiary academic medical center over a two-year period. We included patients discharged the day of surgery for analysis, excluding revision procedures and those performed for fracture care. A manual chart review identified demographic factors and primary outcome measures; including re-operation, re-admission, and emergency room visits within a 90-day post-operative period. We identified a total of 80 patients who converted from inpatient to outpatient surgery over a two-year interval. Over the first 90 days post-operatively four (5%) patients were readmitted: two (2.5%) for medical complications and two (2.5%) for re-operation. There were two (2.5%) re-operations; one (1.25%) for manipulation under anesthesia, and one (1.25%) for periprosthetic joint infection. There were five (6.3%) wound complications; however, only one (1.25%) required surgical intervention. A total of five (6.3%) patients returned to an emergency department, leading to a single (1.25%) hospital readmission. Hospital and healthcare resources are occasionally limited to the extent that patients must convert to outpatient surgery or risk cancellation. At our institution, the same-day conversion of planned inpatient hip and knee arthroplasty patients to outpatient surgery was safe and did not increase short-term clinical outcomes or complications.