Multi-cancer early detection blood tests, designed to identify cancer signals from a single blood draw, are rapidly gaining interest from patients, employers, and health systems — despite the fact that none are yet approved by U.S. regulators. In a detailed examination, The New York Times reports that demand is accelerating even as physicians and researchers remain uncertain about how these tests should be used, interpreted, or paid for. The most prominent test, Galleri, has now been prescribed more than 420,000 times, according to its manufacturer, GRAIL, which plans to seek FDA approval in 2026. Proponents argue these tests could help…
Author: Abhay Panchal
In a recent ASGE blog, Harish Gagneja, MD of Austin Gastroenterology, examines whether private equity partnerships can truly support the long-term sustainability of independent medical practices. He explores why specialty groups are increasingly attractive to investors, the operational lift PE can provide, and the risks of short-term financial incentives—arguing that durable partnerships depend on physician-led governance, transparency, and alignment around patient care rather than rapid exits.
The U.S. gastroenterologist shortage is no longer a temporary staffing problem—it’s a structural crisis decades in the making. Fewer trainees entering the field, frozen Medicare funding for fellowships, early retirements, and soaring demand for procedures like colonoscopy and ERCP have created a widening annual deficit, driving salaries, locum costs, and hospital strain to historic highs. The warning is stark: for many health systems, the only thing costlier than hiring a gastroenterologist is not having one at all.
An international Delphi study from the OperA project identified unresolved legal, ethical, and equity challenges as major obstacles to integrating AI into gastrointestinal endoscopy. Fourteen experts reached consensus on 10 priority issues across data governance, medicolegal responsibility, and bias—highlighting the need for stronger data protection, clarity on liability for AI-assisted decisions, and more diverse training datasets to ensure fair and accountable use of AI in GI practice.
Facing rising labor costs, payer compression, and administrative drag, GI Partners of Illinois is rejecting the idea that margin erosion is inevitable. Instead, the group is defending profitability through five deliberate levers—site-of-service shifts, GI-only ASC expansion, enterprise AI to cut friction, AI-enabled revenue recapture, and scale-driven payer negotiations—positioning operations, not cost-cutting, as the core strategy for sustainability in 2026.
CONMED Corporation announced plans to exit its gastroenterology product lines, accelerating a strategic shift toward its core markets in minimally invasive, robotic, laparoscopic surgery, smoke evacuation, and orthopedic soft tissue repair. The move will end its distribution of the Gore® VIABIL® biliary stent by January 2026 and is expected to generate near-term EPS dilution, while improving the company’s long-term margin profile and capital allocation flexibility.
Researchers found that a hybrid “2M+1H” model—combining two independently trained machine-learning systems with limited gastroenterologist adjudication—matched the accuracy of traditional expert central reading while cutting human review workload by more than 80%. In an analysis of 150 full-length endoscopy videos, the AI-led approach achieved strong agreement with expert reference standards and showed comparable performance for key trial endpoints such as endoscopic improvement and remission. Just as striking, the study exposed a vulnerability in current practice: nearly one in six videos received different final scores depending on which human readers were assigned. By using AI as a first-pass scorer and reserving…
Bariatric care is entering a new era. As endoscopic weight-loss procedures become safer, less invasive, and more durable, experts say demand for bariatric interventions is set to rise—even as GLP-1 medications surge. In a recent episode of The Scope, gastroenterologists David Robbins, MD, and Steven Shamah, MD, discuss advances in endoscopic bariatrics, the relatively modest training needed to offer these procedures, reimbursement realities, and why physicians will play an even bigger role as obesity continues to grow.
A new blood-based test may change how we screen young adults for colorectal cancer. In the largest early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) study to date, researchers showed that a liquid biopsy powered by machine learning detected cancer in patients under 50 with striking accuracy — even among those as young as 20 to 35. The international ENCODER study found the test identified EOCRC with over 95% accuracy, capturing nearly all stage I–III cancers and showing biomarker levels drop rapidly after surgery — a signal it could also track treatment response. With EOCRC now the leading cause of cancer-related death in young…
Gastroenterology remains one of medicine’s highest-paid specialties, ranking 13th in Doximity’s 2025 Physician Compensation Report, with an average annual income of $537,870 based on 2024 data from more than 37,000 full-time physicians. GI compensation sits above otolaryngology and below urology, reflecting continued financial strength despite growing clinical and operational pressures. However, headline salary figures may mask wide variation across practice settings, according to Shazia Siddique, MD, spokesperson for the American Gastroenterological Association and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She noted that gastroenterology has shifted rapidly from independent practice models to consolidated academic and private equity–backed groups, where physicians…