Bethesda, MD (June 1, 2023) – Today, Barbara H. Jung, MD, AGAF, will begin her term as the 118th president of the AGA Institute. She currently serves as the first woman Robert G. Petersdorf professor and chair of internal medicine at the University of Washington and is the fourth woman president to lead AGA. Dr. Jung is an international expert in the field of TGF-beta superfamily signaling in colon cancer and has made significant contributions at AGA prior to becoming president, most recently as a member of the finance and operations committee, chair-elect of audit committee and vice chair of…
Author: Abhay Panchal
Almost a year after announcing its intention to acquire a majority stake in M.I.Tech, the South Korean medtech responsible for a portfolio of gastrointestinal and airway stents, Boston Scientific is walking away from the deal. In a statement sent to Fierce Medtech on Thursday, Boston Scientific said the agreement “required global regulatory approvals that we were not able to obtain in some countries.”
Key takeaways: The ACG and AGA have released a joint clinical practice guideline with 10 evidence-based recommendations for the pharmacological management of adults with chronic idiopathic constipation, the first to include magnesium oxide and senna.
New Spherix research highlights existing need for innovation in this underserved population EXTON, Pa., May 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH) epidemic is roughly 2.5 times greater than diabetes in the U.S. Despite the significant size and unmet need of the potential market, pharmaceutical companies have yet to capitalize on the opportunity. History is littered with failed NAFLD/NASH clinical trials, with last Friday’s Gastrointestinal Disease Advisory Committee (GIDAC) potentially serving up another, as it denied Intercept Pharmaceutical’s accelerated approval for Obeticholic Acid (OCA) to treat NASH. While OCA may still have a chance to find…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing the landscape of medicine, enhancing tried and true diagnostic tools. And ulcerative colitis (UC), a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is just one condition for which researchers are making impressive inroads into better predicting disease outcomes, flares, and complications, as well as identifying more targeted treatments, as they learn to harness AI’s technological might. It’s early days, definitely, with scientists only beginning to grasp the scope of AI’s abilities in the medical arena for this condition. However, one way that AI could soon change UC care specifically is with the gold standard screening…
Cleveland, Texas-based Texas Emergency Hospital is the most expensive hospital to receive a colonoscopy, according to information from data analytics company Hospital Pricing Specialists. Hospital Pricing Specialists created an annual pricing survey that analyzed more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals by examining hospital machine-readable files and public claims. The goal of the survey was to analyze the effects of the price transparency law on CMS-defined shoppable codes, according to a May 25 email to Becker’s from the company. Here is the pricing data for CMS shoppable code, CPT 45380-Colonoscopy, at the 10 most expensive hospitals to have the procedure done:
In June, new prior authorization rules from UnitedHealthcare concerning select gastroenterology procedures will take effect, requiring patients and physicians to seek authorization for gastroenterology endoscopy services, including esophagogastroduodenoscopies, capsule endoscopies, diagnostic colonoscopies and surveillance colonoscopies. Several physician groups, including the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the California Medical Association, have expressed opposition to the changes, citing patient safety concerns and undue physician burden. UnitedHealthcare begs to differ, saying that these changes will actually improve patient safety by preventing procedure overutilization. “Prior authorization is an important checkpoint to make sure a service and procedure is safe and clinically appropriate. It…
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed regulation that would ban noncompete agreements across the country seems like potential good news for doctors. Of course, many hospitals and employers are against it. As a result, the FTC’s sweeping proposal has tongues wagging on both sides of the issue. Many physicians are thrilled that they may soon have more control over their career and not be stuck in jobs where they feel frustrated, underpaid, or blocked in their progress.
Although the treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome is a core component of gastroenterology practice, it can be a challenge for clinicians. Now classified as a disorder of gut–brain interaction, IBS-D can be debilitatingly painful for patients and greatly decreases quality of life. There are a number of treatments, both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic, but not every treatment works for every patient. Lin Chang, MD, the co-director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience at the University of California, Los Angeles, offered tips to optimize care for patients dealing with the condition.
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia. I’m back from attending Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2023 in Chicago, where there was a bevy of information — so much so that I’m going to split this into two separate discussions of all the significant findings I believe to possibly have practice-changing implications, now or on the near horizon. The Option for Occlusion Devices in Atrial Fibrillation and Cirrhosis Let’s begin part 1 of this overview of DDW 2023 with a study…