The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the authority of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), warning that millions of Americans could lose access to essential colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings if the Task Force’s role is undermined. In an amicus brief filed in Kennedy v. Braidwood, the ACG emphasized that limiting USPSTF’s authority would severely jeopardize decades of progress in CRC prevention, especially as incidence rates are rising among younger adults.
Author: Abhay Panchal
On March 5, dozens of major U.S. hospital systems and healthcare providers filed lawsuits against Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and its affiliates, accusing the insurance giant of underpaying them by billions of dollars — escalating an already massive legal battle over alleged antitrust violations. The lawsuits, filed in federal courts in California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, come as these providers formally opted out of a $2.8 billion class-action settlement currently awaiting final approval in federal court in Alabama.
In a recent study from Germany, researchers evaluated ChatGPT’s ability to answer patient questions about pancreatic cancer surgery, comparing its responses to those from two specialist surgeons. The goal was to assess accuracy, clarity for non-specialists, and empathy — essential components of effective patient communication.
Richard Peek, MD, director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has been elected vice president of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) — the specialty’s most prominent international organization. Dr. Peek, who holds the Mina Cobb Wallace Professorship of Immunology and professorships in Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, will serve in successive one-year terms as vice president, president-elect, president (2027-2028), and then past president.
Guardant Health (GH) secured a major win as CMS approved Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory Test (ADLT) status for its Shield blood test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, enabling Medicare reimbursement at $1,495 starting April 1, 2025—up from the previously assumed $920. Analysts, including William Blair’s Andrew Brackmann, view this as a significant positive, estimating it could add approximately $10 million in revenue, with further potential upside if adoption scales.
Hinge Health’s long-anticipated IPO is generating significant buzz as the first major digital health offering since Waystar’s debut in 2024, raising questions about whether the public markets will value Hinge at or near its prior $6.2 billion private valuation. While the company has shown impressive revenue growth to $390.4M in 2024 and improved margins, concerns remain about future growth beyond the saturated self-insured employer market and its ability to expand beyond musculoskeletal (MSK) care into adjacent areas like behavioral health or GI. As a leader in digital MSK, Hinge faces pressure to either build or buy capabilities in new clinical…
The AGA Quality Committee, in collaboration with the Rome Foundation, has developed nine evidence-based quality indicators for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), covering evaluation, diagnosis, and management. These include taking a detailed patient history, testing for celiac disease in IBS-D or IBS-M patients, using fecal calprotectin for IBS-D evaluation, and avoiding routine colonoscopy in IBS patients without alarm features.
Yen Luu, the former billing manager at San Jose (Calif.) Gastroenterology, filed a complaint against the GI group for harassment, unlawful retaliation, wrongful termination and other employment-related claims, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s.
Physicians are bracing for a 6.3% Medicare pay cut, marking the fifth consecutive year of reductions, as Congress fails to adjust reimbursement rates in its latest spending package. While Republican leadership has pledged to address this issue in an upcoming budget reconciliation bill, physicians are warning that continued cuts will jeopardize patient access, especially for the 66 million Americans on Medicare, and worsen the ongoing crisis in rural healthcare. These reductions disproportionately harm smaller and independent practices, as doctors face rising costs without inflation adjustments, leading to practice closures, longer patient wait times, and reduced care quality.
Physicians often face a heartbreaking reality: caring for patients under a system that rewards procedures over prevention, leaving them overburdened and under-incentivized to focus on long-term health. CMS’s current reimbursement model favors expensive interventions while underpaying preventative care efforts like RPM and CCM, and even value-based care models struggle under the weight of financial risk providers are unwilling to bear. Instead of minor penalties like the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, a bold shift to outcome-based incentives—such as call options on rehospitalizations—could financially reward providers for keeping patients out of the hospital, realigning physician motivation with patient well-being.