A new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery assessed the effect of a bowel management program (BMP) on health-care utilization and costs. This study entailed review of all patients with severe functional constipation who participated in the BMP program in two centers – 1 and 2. Emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admissions, and constipation-related morbidities (abdominal pain, fecal impaction, urinary retention, urinary tract infections) 12 months before and 12 months after completion of the BMP were recorded. Overall, 84 patients were included – 96 from center 1 and 88 from center 2. The results showed that 34.2% patients had at least one unplanned visit to the ED before treatment. After the implementation of the BMP program ED visits decreased to 12.5%. Additionally, unplanned hospital admissions decreased by 56.9%. From the findings it was inferred that in children with severe functional constipation, a structured BMP decreases unplanned visits to the ED, hospital admissions, and constipation-related health care costs.