Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
The two busiest surgery centers in the Philadelphia region last year were operated by Penn Medicine in Radnor<\/a> and Jefferson Health<\/a> in Center City<\/a>. <\/p>\n Such facilities have grown increasingly popular as a cost-saving option for procedures that do not require intensive hospital resources or overnight stays. <\/p>\n While they offer convenience, the facilities operated by Penn and Jefferson both count as hospital departments for billing purposes, which means they cost more than surgery centers operated by independent physicians or other companies.<\/p>\n Penn Medicine Radnor Surgery Center operates within a large outpatient facility near the intersection of I-476 and Route 30. It logged 12,464 surgical visits in 2025, up from 8,961 the year before, according to data published last month by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. <\/p>\n Penn attributed the growth to the addition of new gastroenterologists in Radnor to perform colonoscopies, upper endoscopies, and other procedures. Colonoscopies, in particular, account for a large portion of the overall volume in surgery centers outside hospitals.<\/p>\n Jefferson Surgery Center was close behind, with 12,261 surgical visits, up from 2,639 in 2024. It sits within the Honickman Center, which opened in 2024<\/a> at 1101 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. Jefferson has gradually expanded the array of surgical services offered there.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowth has been driven by both increasing patient demand and the strategic transition of services from other Jefferson locations, allowing us to provide care in a state-of-the-art outpatient environment,\u201d Jefferson said in an email.<\/p>\n Other fast-growing surgery centers include two independently operated facilities focused on orthopedics, Premier at Exton<\/a> Surgery Center in Exton and Restore Orthopaedic Surgical Institute in Chadds Ford. <\/p>\n Surgery center ownership matters<\/p>\n Even though the Penn and Jefferson outpatient facilities are not in hospitals, their ownership by large hospital systems enables providers to get paid as if they were located inside the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania<\/a> or Thomas Jefferson University<\/a> Hospital. <\/p>\n Hospital outpatient department billing rates are sometimes twice as much as the rates paid to independent surgery centers. <\/p>\n For example, surgery to remove torn cartilage from a knee can cost $7,190 when performed on an outpatient basis in a hospital, nearly three times the $2,477 cost in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to Philadelphia-area commercial insurance averages from Turquoise Health.<\/p>\n