Intermountain Health Opening Endoscopy Centers in Utah to Make Digestive Health Procedures More Affordable and Accessible to Communities
(PRUnderground) August 1st, 2025
Intermountain Health recently opened a free-standing combined surgical and endoscopy procedure center in Sandy, Utah and is announcing two more Utah endoscopy center locations that will open in Ogden later this year and in Riverton in 2026, to help bring more affordable and accessible digestive health procedures to patients and families in those communities.
Digestive health is coming more to the forefront as Americans are paying more attention to healthy eating, nutrition, gut health and maintaining a healthy weight. Intermountain Health is helping patients be more proactive about their digestive health through comprehensive, team-based care with each patient.
Free-standing endoscopy centers have lower overhead than those operating inside a hospital or under a hospital’s license. Many Americans are turning to other similar free-standing surgery centers or imaging centers to help keep their out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare services down. An endoscopy center is one more place that can help patients with a streamlined, high quality healthcare experience at a lower cost.
The new Intermountain Health Surgery Center – Alta View is located on the campus of Intermountain Health’s Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Utah. The two new endoscopy centers under development will be located on or near the campuses of Intermountain Health’s McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah and Riverton Hospital in Riverton, Utah.
“With the opening of our new endoscopy centers, Intermountain Health is increasing access to a lower-cost alternative for digestive health diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to prevent, identify, and treat digestive health conditions in earlier stages,” said Dr. Nathan Merriman, Senior Medical Director of the Surgical Specialties and Digestive Health Clinical Program at Intermountain Health. “This comes at a time when we’re seeing more people with chronic digestive health conditions and younger ages of colon cancer across the U.S.”
Intermountain Health is an integrated health system which includes a health insurance plan, so offering endoscopy services for non-emergent needs under this new model in a lower-cost setting is in keeping with Intermountain’s mission as a nonprofit health system to improve the overall health of people in the communities it serves.
The Alta View endoscopy center and other locations announced for Utah will be managed by Surgery Partners, a leading operator of surgical facilities and ancillary services with more than 200 locations across 30 states.
“Surgery Partners has a differentiated delivery model focused on providing high quality, cost-effective solutions for surgical and related ancillary care, so their philosophy aligns very well with Intermountain’s mission,” said Dr. Merriman.
Endoscopy services at these centers include colonoscopies which are the most effective method of screening for colon cancer and finding precancerous growths and polyps. Some polyps or abnormal masses can even be removed during the screening colonoscopy.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 107,320 new cases of colon cancer and 46,950 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2025. They reported that about 53,000 Americans died from colon cancer in 2024.
Colonoscopy screening is recommended beginning at age 45 or earlier if there is a family history of colon cancer. A referral is not needed for a screening colonoscopy at the Alta View Endoscopy Center.
“In addition to colonoscopies, the endoscopy center also provides upper endoscopy procedures to examine the esophagus, stomach, and upper part of the small intestine to help diagnose conditions like acid reflux, ulcers, swallowing difficulties, abdominal pain, bloating or nausea, chronic diarrhea, chronic constipation, and hemorrhoids,” said Dr. Merriman.
“These types of procedures can also aid in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic or more serious conditions like Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, or esophageal cancer,” he added.
Upper endoscopy procedures require a referral from your primary care doctor or specialist.
“This partnership is a great example of how we can bring innovative care models to life by working together,” said Noah Clevenger, Regional Vice President of Operations at Surgery Partners. “By aligning our strengths, we’re creating more access points for patients in Utah to receive timely, affordable, and highly specialized digestive healthcare—while supporting physicians with the tools and environment they need to deliver exceptional outcomes.”
Intermountain Health already operates three free-standing endoscopy centers in Denver in partnership with Gastroenterology of the Rockies.
With the addition of the new and announced endoscopy centers in Utah, Intermountain Health will operate a total of six endoscopy centers in Colorado and Utah.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, over 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org/.
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Original Press Release.
