Gastrointestinal procedures make up a huge share of the most commonly billed services at ASCs, according to a March 13 MedPAC report. While cataract surgeries top the list, several GI-related procedures follow closely, accounting for a large portion of ASC case volume for Medicare beneficiaries.
Author: Abhay Panchal
The Doctors Company’s $1.3 billion acquisition of ProAssurance signals growing consolidation in the medical malpractice insurance market amid rising healthcare costs and increased mergers among physician groups. The deal, offering ProAssurance shareholders a 60% premium, will expand The Doctors Company’s national scale and solidify its position as a leading physician-owned liability insurer. With more doctors working for hospitals and large groups—who provide malpractice coverage—this move reflects the need for insurers to evolve and scale to meet the demands of a rapidly consolidating healthcare landscape.
A new 2025 survey from Athenahealth and the Harris Poll reveals that fewer physicians are thinking about leaving their jobs compared to 2024, with improved attitudes driven in part by the adoption of AI technology. Many doctors see AI—especially in transcription and documentation—as a key tool to reduce burnout and administrative burden. While only 3 in 10 physicians currently use AI, optimism about its potential is growing. Despite improvements, concerns persist around the future of U.S. healthcare, especially regarding interoperability, financial stability, and regulatory demands.
The article explains how AI agents—autonomous systems powered by tools like large language models—can streamline clinical and administrative tasks in gastroenterology practices. Specifically, it highlights how AI can optimize revenue cycle management by improving coding accuracy, predicting claim denials, and automating appeals. It also shows how AI can accelerate prior authorization processes by extracting necessary data from electronic health records, submitting complete documentation, and tracking approvals in real time.
A new study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology shows that using WATS-3D, a wide-area transepithelial sampling tool with 3D computer-assisted analysis, alongside traditional forceps biopsies (FB) significantly increases detection of Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and dysplasia in patients with GERD undergoing screening endoscopy. In a registry of nearly 24,000 patients, WATS-3D identified BE in nearly 20% of cases missed by FB alone and doubled the detection of dysplasia. The tool also led to changes in clinical management in over 90% of cases with positive WATS-3D and negative FB results. Authors and experts suggest WATS-3D is a valuable adjunct to…
This first-ever ACG guideline addresses gastric premalignant conditions—including atrophic gastritis, gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM), dysplasia, and certain epithelial polyps—due to their potential progression to gastric adenocarcinoma (GC). Although the U.S. is a low-incidence country for GC, certain non-White and immigrant populations experience significantly higher rates, making GC an underrecognized health disparity.
Guardant Health’s Shield™ blood test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is now covered with no copay for U.S. veterans and eligible family members aged 45–84 under the VA Community Care Network. This marks the first coverage of the test for individuals younger than 65 and outside the Medicare population. Shield, FDA-approved in July 2024, is the first blood-based CRC screening test for average-risk individuals and can be prescribed by any provider. This expansion significantly increases access to early cancer detection for over 9 million VA beneficiaries.
PathAI announced that its AIM-MASH AI Assist tool is now the first and only AI-assisted pathology assessment technology qualified by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) CHMP for use in MASH (Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis) clinical trials. The tool aids a single central pathologist in evaluating liver biopsies for both trial enrollment and endpoint assessment—potentially replacing multi-pathologist consensus reads. Clinical validation showed it outperformed human assessment for key features like inflammation and ballooning. This qualification marks a major step forward in AI-driven pathology and could accelerate drug development in MASH by ensuring more consistent, scalable biopsy analysis.
In a groundbreaking move, the FDA has cleared Nanosonics’ CORIS system—the first automated device designed to clean the hard-to-reach internal channels of flexible endoscopes, a known source of hospital-acquired infections. The system targets resilient biofilm that standard manual cleaning often misses.
In this special crossover episode with Physicianary, previous Gut Talk guest, Austin Chiang, MD, and Physicianary host, Hansa Bhargava, MD, discuss the influence of social media in medicine and how AI continues to change the health care landscape.