I applaud your recent series exploring the wide variation in the cost of procedures like colonoscopies across hospitals (“A colonoscopy costs nearly eight times more at one RI hospital than another. Why?” News, Oct. 20). The costs highlighted are quite substantial. Unfortunately, your article fails to address a major opportunity – that patients can realize significant savings by seeking care in Rhode Island’s independent ambulatory surgery centers.

Independent physician practices and their affiliated ASCs deliver high-quality care at a fraction of the cost of a hospital. One recent study found that, in 2024, Medicare paid about 60% more for a colonoscopy performed in a hospital outpatient department than in an independent ASC. Commercial insurers paid hospital outpatient departments more than double what they paid independent ASCs for that same procedure in 2022.

Delivering more care in independent ASCs could save patients, payers, and the health care system billions of dollars. That’s something Rhode Island’s leaders and health care providers should encourage as they work to control health costs.

Dr. Eric Newton, president, University Gastroenterology, Providence

View the article at The Providence Journal