June 08, 2023 – Health insurer policies are increasing administrative burden for independent physician practices, pushing them to seek employment in other settings and fueling physician practice acquisitions, a report from the American Hospital Association (AHA) highlighted. The number of physician practices affiliated with hospitals and health systems has grown in recent years. Most of the discussions surrounding these acquisitions tend to focus on hospitals’ intentions and perspectives. The AHA report provides insight into physicians’ views and what may motivate them to turn to hospitals and health systems for continued employment.
Author: Abhay Panchal
KATY, TX / ACCESSWIRE / June 7, 2023 / Gastro Health & Nutrition is pleased to announce its third gastroenterology clinic opening this month. Building upon the success of its Victoria location, which has been serving the community for nearly a decade, Gastro Health & Nutrition now expands its presence to the Memorial City area of Houston. The team is now equipped with six provider groups to deliver digestive care to patients in the Victoria, Katy, and now, West Houston communities, as well as the surrounding areas. This collaboration addresses the growing demand for specialized gastrointestinal services in the region.…
Marpai adds industry-leading virtual multidisciplinary gastrointestinal care clinic to its value-based care network to improve member health and lower employer costs. NEW YORK, June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Marpai, Inc. (“Marpai” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: MRAI), an AI-powered Third-Party Administrator (TPA) transforming self-funded employer health plans, announces a relationship with Oshi Health, Inc. (“Oshi Health” or “Oshi”) to offer the most clinically advanced virtual digestive care to its employer health plan members. The result of rigorous clinical evaluation, this relationship meets the increased urgency of employers to address digestive health concerns and provide access to multidisciplinary digestive care to their…
UnitedHealthcare halted its controversial prior authorization policy for gastroenterology endoscopy services, set to start on June 1, opting instead to move forward with an advanced notification program. Following widespread backlash from more than 4,500 gastroenterologists and patients, the insurance company announced it would postpone the prior authorization policy that would have affected more than 27 million of its beneficiaries. Instead, UnitedHealthcare plans to implement an advance notification process “for non-screening gastroenterology procedures” under its commercial plans.
AGA’s new Clinical Practice Update provides guidance for the diagnosis and management of extraesophageal gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The guidance and associated clinical decision support tool focus on conditions suspected to have potential relationships to acid reflux and provide best approaches to diagnosis, evaluation and therapy.
A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying the success of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is needed to further improve its effectiveness, according to two recent reviews published in Cell Host and Microbe. Both research teams agree that more needs to be known about how various underexplored factors ― such as the patient’s diet and genetic background, how closely the donor’s microbial composition matches the patient’s existing microbiome, and the presence of nonbacterial gut inhabitants like viruses and fungi ― affect FMT success, according to a press release.
New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian was named in a civil lawsuit that alleges Zhi Alan Cheng, MD, a gastroenterologist who previously practiced at the health system’s Flushing, N.Y., location, drugged and sexually assaulted a patient. Dr. Cheng was employed by NewYork-Presbyterian between July 2020 and December 2022. According to a complaint filed June 7, a 19-year-old woman was admitted to the emergency room with gallstone-induced abdominal pain. On June 21, 2021, two days after she was admitted, Dr. Cheng allegedly examined the victim without other staff present, performing an invasive and unnecessary rectal examination under the guise of medical treatment, according…
With 2023 poised to be the year of the adalimumab (Humira, AbbVie) biosimilar wave, a new report focuses on market expansion and sustainability for biosimilars in the United States. According to the report, issued by Cardinal Health, gastroenterologists appeared to be comfortable with the prospect of prescribing a Humira biosimilar, with 93% saying they were at least somewhat comfortable and 50% very comfortable. Safety and efficacy as well as overall issues with switching were the most often cited concerns. The first adalimumab biosimilar, adalimumab-atto (Amjevita, Amgen), entered the U.S. market on Jan. 31, after six years of regulatory delay. At…
The controversial prior authorization policy for colonoscopies that UnitedHealthcare wanted to put into effect today will not take place, the company said last night in a statement. Instead UHC wants to implement an alternative advance notification process that would require physicians to collect and submit patient data before performing non-screening and nonemergent colonoscopies, capsule endoscopis and esophagogastroduodenoscopies. That doesn’t settle the matter and in fact could be interpreted as being more ominous to patients and the physicians who perform colonoscopies, Barbara H. Jung, M.D., the president of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), said in a statement last night.
As I leave a conference organized for a group of physician entrepreneurs, I have so many thoughts running through my head. Some of these thoughts revolve around making my small, fledgling medical practice run more smoothly, reaching more people (and serving them better), and always remembering my why. These are the “business mastermind” skills I signed up to learn at the conference. But I may have come out of this with something way more valuable in the long run. I was also reminded of why I left what I was doing before and why I am continuing to follow this…