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BACKGROUND Epidemiologic assessment of surgical admissions into intensive care units (ICU) provides a framework to evaluate healthcare system efficiency and project future healthcare needs. METHODS We performed a 9-year (2008-2016), retrospective cohort analysis of all adult admissions to 88 SICUs using the prospectively and manually abstracted, Cerner APACHE Outcomes database. We stratified patients into 13 surgical cohorts and modeled temporal-trends in admission, mortality, SICU length of stay (LOS) and change in functional status (FS) using generalized mixed-effects and Quasi-Poisson models to obtain risk-adjusted outcomes. RESULTS We evaluated 78,053 ICU admissions and observed a significant decrease in admissions after transplant and thoracic surgery, with a concomitant increase in admissions after otolaryngological and facial reconstructive procedures (all p < 0.05). While overall risk-adjusted mortality remained stable over the study period; mortality significantly declined in orthopedic, cardiac, urologic, and neurosurgical patients (all p < 0.05). Cardiac, urologic, gastrointestinal, neurosurgical, and orthopedic admissions showed significant reductions in LOS (all p < 0.05). The overall rate of FS deterioration increased per year, suggesting ICU-related disability increased over the study period. CONCLUSION Temporal analysis demonstrates a significant change in the type of surgical patients admitted to the ICU over the last decade, with decreasing mortality and LOS in selected cohorts, but an increasing rate of FS deterioration. Improvement in ICU outcomes may highlight the success of healthcare advancements within certain surgical cohorts, while simultaneously identifying cohorts that may benefit from future intervention. Our findings have significant implications in healthcare systems planning, including resource and personnel-allocation, education, and surgical training. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV STUDY TYPE: Economic/ Decision.