The American College of Gastroenterology recently released an updated clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of celiac disease (Am J Gastroenterol 2023;118[1]:59-76). GEN‘s Sarah Tilyou spoke with lead author Alberto Rubio Tapia, MD, the director of the celiac disease program at Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, about the impetus for the guideline and what it means to GI practice.
Author: Abhay Panchal
As we have previously noted, private equity (PE) firms have been increasingly drawn to the health care sector as a profitable investment opportunity. PE is a type of investment that involves pooling funds from investors in order to acquire companies with a goal of improving their financial performance to then sell them for a profit. One recent area of interest for PE firms has been gastroenterology, the branch of medicine that focuses on the digestive system and its disorders. Private equity firms are attracted to this field due to the steady demand for gastrointestinal (GI) services, which are required by…
Gastroenterology is a service line with unlimited potential for growth. The expanding patient need for services, combined with advancements that allow more procedures to be performed in outpatient settings, have made gastroenterology an attractive target for investors. Patients utilize gastroenterology services throughout their lifetimes. Gastroenterologists treat a wide variety of conditions impacting the digestive system, which includes the stomach, intestines, gallbladder, pancreas, and liver. Clinicians care for patients experiencing everything from abdominal pain and heartburn to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cancers. The stats show that chronic digestive issues keep providers busy:
Key takeaways: The FDA has approved AbbVie’s Rinvoq as a once-day pill intended for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease who are intolerant, or have had an inadequate response, to one or more TNF inhibitors.
New York tops the list of states that are most in-demand for permanent placement opportunities for gastroenterologists, according to a post from physician search and employment firm Merritt Hawkins. Ten most in-demand states for permanent GI placement:
Bringing in a physician partner has many advantages: A partner may help your practice grow and become more successful; partners allow you to share the workload and to combine skills with another provider; and you can enrich your practice by having a solid teammate. However, business partners can become your greatest asset or worst liability. Deciding whether or not to share your practice with someone else may be one of the most important business decisions you ever make. Deciding who you go into business with can be just as important.
CHICAGO — Surgeons in the Veterans Affairs (VA) medical system did a poorer job at detecting adenomas during routine colonoscopies compared with gastroenterologists, a review of VA data suggested. With results analyzed from nearly 670,000 colonoscopies performed in the VA system, adenoma detection rates were 53% for gastroenterologists versus 41% for surgeons, according to Andrew Gawron, MD, PhD, of the University of Utah and the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. This gap was apparent irrespective of patient sex or age, and whether the procedures were for routine screening or for follow-up of positive fecal tests results, Gawron told…
AGA is profoundly alarmed and disappointed by UnitedHealthcare’s (UHC) prior authorization requirement for gastroenterology endoscopy services for all commercial plans, regardless of the outpatient location. Speeding up access to care for patients by reforming prior authorization is our #1 advocacy priority. At our meeting at DDW®, the AGA Governing Board allocated the resources necessary for a sustained fight against the prior authorization policy United Healthcare plans to implement on June 1. Read more about AGA’s position in this press release. UnitedHealthcare’s expansion of prior authorization for most physician-prescribed endoscopy procedures — effective June 1 — could disrupt time-sensitive care for…
CHICAGO — Adding a dedicated patient navigator improved fecal immunochemical testing completion and return rates and resulted in significant savings to the health care system, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week. “A patient navigator is someone whose dedicated role is to help guide patients through the health care system, removing barriers to care wherever possible,” Hannah Winthrop Fiske, MD, an internal medicine resident at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, told Healio. “Health care disparities are dramatically apparent when examining CRC screening rates.”
Dr. K is joined by Dr. Rockford Yapp, co-founder of GI Partners of IL, founder and chairman of the West Suburban Gut Club, and chairman of the board for the Dupage County Medical Society. They focus on the provider side of things specifically in private GI practice. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play Healthcare NOW Radio.” Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen