Doctronic’s $40M raise signals a shift from AI as support software to AI as the first point of care. Unlike traditional digital health tools, Doctronic positions itself as an autonomous, always-on clinical interface—capable of asking questions, generating medical guidance, and even (in limited settings) prescribing routine medications. But the real strategic move isn’t the technology—it’s positioning. Doctronic is framing itself as: That combination turns AI from a feature into infrastructure across the care continuum.
Author: Abhay Panchal
Physicians exiting private practice today aren’t just choosing a buyer—they’re choosing a model for how their practice will evolve after they leave. With consolidation accelerating, three primary paths have emerged: private equity, hospital systems, or internal partnerships. Each comes with fundamentally different trade-offs—across control, financial upside, operational autonomy, and long-term stability. The key shift is this:👉 Practice sales have moved from reactive decisions to high-stakes strategic planning exercises Private equity may offer higher upfront value and growth acceleration—but often with performance expectations. Hospitals bring integration and stability—but less autonomy. Partner buyouts preserve culture—but may limit scale and capital. At the…
A new liquid biopsy method has demonstrated the ability to detect more than 95% of stage I and II cancers in a blinded validation cohort, according to proof-of-concept data released by Volition, a multinational epigenetics company. The technology, called Capture-Seq, works by enriching and purifying plasma samples to produce virtually pure circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) for sequencing analysis — addressing one of the core challenges in liquid biopsy, where the vast majority of circulating DNA in blood plasma originates from healthy cells rather than tumor cells.
ABBOTT PARK, Ill., March 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced it has completed the acquisition of Exact Sciences, establishing Abbott as a leader in fast-growing cancer screening and diagnostics segments and enabling the company to serve millions of additional people. “Abbott’s global scale, track record of operational and commercial excellence and work with healthcare systems around the world will expand access to important tools for early cancer detection and personalized treatments,” said Robert B. Ford, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott. “With the legacy and deep expertise of the Exact Sciences team, we’re ready to transform cancer…
The partnership between Jona and Everlywell signals a major shift: advanced gut microbiome testing is moving from specialized settings into scalable, consumer-facing platforms. By combining deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing with AI-driven analysis, the offering goes beyond basic gut tests—aiming to deliver strain-level insights and personalized intervention pathways. But the real inflection point is distribution. Through Everlywell’s reach, microbiome testing is no longer confined to early adopters or research settings—it’s being embedded into the mainstream at-home diagnostics ecosystem, accessible to millions.
Gastroenterology’s dealmaking landscape is shifting. Five recent transactions reveal an industry moving past aggressive consolidation toward a phase defined by operational efficiency, care quality and strategic alignment. Here’s what each deal signals about where GI is headed: NextServices Partners with One GI, 100ms In January, NextServices announced a three-way collaboration with GI platform One GI and AI company 100ms to build an AI-driven operating model across One GI’s network. The partnership targets patient access workflows first, specifically colonoscopy recalls and referrals, areas where delays have long created care gaps.AI agents operate in real time, managing outreach, patient interactions and follow-on…
Gastroenterology (GI) is a leading field for AI innovation, assisting clinicians with dynamic endoscopic imaging and procedures. But what do patients think of this growing component of care? To answer that question, researchers led by gastroenterologist Vinay Jahagirdar, MD, of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, conducted a multicenter, survey-based study of patient perspectives in the US and Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.
Therapeutic innovation in gastroenterology has accelerated over the past decade, reshaping how clinicians evaluate treatment response, define success, and identify unmet needs across inflammatory and metabolic diseases. As the armamentarium expands, so too does the complexity of decision-making in both inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and broader digestive disorders. The question is no longer whether options exist, but how to deploy them effectively—and when to pivot. In the accompanying video, Benjamin McDonald, MD, PhD, a gastroenterologist specializing in inflammatory bowel diseases at UChicago Medicine, explains that early identification of suboptimal response remains grounded in careful clinical reassessment. In the absence of…
A new Northwestern Medicine study suggests that a structured simulation‑based training program can significantly improve how gastroenterologists remove precancerous colon polyps, according to findings published in Gastroenterology. Investigators found that after completing a simulation‑based mastery learning curriculum, gastroenterologists nearly doubled their rate of performing polypectomies — a core procedure for colorectal cancer prevention — at or above the minimum passing standard, rising from 37 percent before training to 74 percent afterward. The minimum passing standard was set at a very high level of skill.
In the latest edition of The Scope Forward Show, I’m joined by: Matt Schwartz, Founder & CEO of VirgoDr. Neil Parikh, Chief Innovation Officer, Connecticut GI and Chair of Innovation, GI Alliance AI is moving from theory to real infrastructure in healthcare. In this episode of the Scope Forward Show, we explored what happens when Big Tech, AI agents, robotics, genomics, and data platforms converge—and what it means for gastroenterology. The conversation ranged from Amazon’s new health AI agent to AI-assisted colonoscopy, humanoid robots, and even space-based data centers powering the next wave of AI. Watch the episode. Top Insights from the Interview: