In a 24-week phase 3 randomized placebo-controlled study, oral intragastric expandable capsules have shown promising results in reducing body weight in adults with overweight or obesity. These capsules, taken twice daily before meals, expand with water in the stomach to fill about one quarter of its volume, aiding in weight loss. The study involved 280 adults aged 18-60 years with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 24 kg/m^2. The primary endpoints of the study were the percentage change in body weight from baseline and the weight loss response rate (at least 5% weight loss from baseline body weight) at…
Author: Abhay Panchal
Physician groups have welcomed a new federal rule announced on January 17, which requires health insurers to streamline and disclose more information about their prior authorization processes. This rule, applicable to insurers in federal programs like Medicare Advantage and Medicaid, mandates a response to expedited prior authorization requests within 72 hours and other requests within 7 days. Insurers must also explain their reasons for denying a prior authorization request and publicly release data on denial and approval rates for medical treatments. Additionally, they are required to provide patients with more information about decisions to deny care. Compliance with some provisions…
Gastroenterology was among the five highest-paid specialties in 2023, but its position in the rankings has shuffled in the last decade. Here is how the average annual salary of gastroenterologists has evolved over the last 10 years, along with the percent change from year to year, using Medscape’s annual “Physician Compensation Survey” editions from 2013 to 2023. Overall, the average salary among gastroenterologists increased by 47% in the last decade. 2023: $501,000 (+10.6%)2022: $453,000 (+11.6%)2021: $406,000 (-3.1%)2020: $419,000 (+0.5%)2019: $417,000 (+2.2%)2018: $408,000 (+4.3%)2017: $391,000 (+2.9%)2016: $380,000 (+2.7%)2015: $370,000 (+6.3%)2014: $348,000 (+0.6%)2013: $342,000 (+12.9%)
In 2020, gastrointestinal (GI) cancers contributed to 25.1% of the global lifetime risk of developing cancer, with colorectal cancer (CRC) presenting the highest risk among GI cancers. A study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology by Shaoming Wang, PhD, and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, found that the global lifetime risk for developing GI cancer was one in 12 people, while one in 16 people will die from it. The study used data from the Global Cancer Observatory 2020 for 185 countries and categorized countries into quartiles of the Human Development…
Healthcare services company Curative Insurance Company and GRAIL, a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early when it can be cured, announced the availability of Galleri, a multi-cancer early detection (MCED) screening test to eligible insurance plan members. The Galleri test will be available to all members, across all plan types, who are over the age of 50 and to all other members with risk factors for developing cancer. The Galleri test is part of the list of benefit offerings available for $0 copay and $0 deductible* on Curative’s health insurance plan. A simple blood draw used in…
A new study has developed a machine learning (ML) model that uses standard laboratory values and clinical data to predict the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). This model, which showed high specificity and sensitivity, was trained and validated using data from 1561 and 686 patients with MASLD, respectively, from two academic medical centers. The strongest predictive parameter of HCC in the model was liver fibrosis, as determined by the noninvasive fibrosis-4 score, along with total cholesterol, alkaline phosphate, bilirubin, and hypertension. In the validation cohort, the model achieved 92.06% accuracy in…
Private equity has staked its claim in gastroenterology.From GI Alliance to United Digestive, most major GI groups are backed by private equity. But what is drawing private equity to gastroenterology specifically? “This trend has seen growing momentum in the past five years. The field presents an attractive PE target, as a significant portion of gastroenterologists remain in independent practices with ownership in ambulatory endoscopy centers,” Rami Abbass, MD, a gastroenterologist at University Hospitals in Mentor, Ohio, told Becker’s in 2021. “The growing regulatory environment, high cost of capital, administrative burdens and challenges of partner recruitment have made private equity attractive…
This software could expedite the quality review process and establish new benchmarks in colonoscopy performance. Key Features of the Software: Evaluation and Performance: Advantages and Potential Impact: Future Development: The investigators, who disclosed relationships with various medical companies, believe that automating data collection in this manner could help determine which metrics provide clinically meaningful insights and potentially expand the standard performance benchmarks in colonoscopy.
Management organization GI Alliance has broken ground on an ASC in Kansas City, Mo., in conjunction with real estate company MedCore Partners and Cig Partners Two. The 14,000-square-foot ASC will be one of many facilities that MedCore and GI Alliance have developed together across several states. The development is expected to be complete in January 2025, according to a Feb. 6 press release.
Use of a mechanical enhancement device during screening colonoscopy improved polyp detection rates and estimated adenoma detection rates in real-world clinical settings, likely due to improved surface area exposure of the colon, according to an analysis of a large healthcare database. Despite this demonstrable benefit, the uptake of the device (EndoCuff Vision, Olympus) in clinical practice “is low, probably limited by financial barriers for the cost of single-use products,” according to investigator Seth A. Gross, MD, who presented the findings at the 2023 annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology (plenary 50). “Published studies have shown polyp/adenoma miss rates…