A patient in Ohio was quoted about $3,000 to have a uterine polyp removed in a doctor's office. The day before the procedure, she was told it had to be done at a freestanding surgery center owned by the health system that had bought the practice in 2025, and the bill came to about $6,000, KFF Health News reported September 8. An earlier plan to do the procedure in a hospital operating room had come with an $18,000 estimate. In the end, the doctor numbed her cervix and removed the polyp in a few minutes.
That gap reflects a pricing mechanism most patients never see. When a hospital system acquires a physician practice, services can often be billed at higher hospital outpatient rates, and patients can be steered to higher-priced settings the system owns. Patients with high-deductible plans can end up paying much of the difference themselves.
