New York Gastroenterology Associates, one of the city’s largest independent GI practices, is moving pathology fully into the digital era by adopting Proscia’s AI-enabled Concentriq platform. The shift replaces traditional microscope workflows with high-resolution, data-rich digital slides—speeding diagnoses, supporting pathologists, and opening the door to AI-driven insights in GI diseases like cancer. Beyond day-to-day efficiency, the move positions NYGA to collaborate more closely with life sciences and pharma partners as precision medicine and digital pathology converge. Why this matters: GI practices are no longer just care delivery hubs—they’re becoming data and research engines. NYGA’s bet signals where pathology, AI, and…
Author: Abhay Panchal
Researchers at Harvard have identified how colibactin — a toxin produced by certain gut bacteria — directly damages human DNA in ways long associated with colorectal cancer, according to a new study published in Science. The work, led by Emily Balskus and Victoria D’Souza, shows that colibactin creates rare and highly toxic DNA inter-strand cross-links, binding both strands of the DNA double helix together. These lesions disrupt normal DNA replication and repair, increasing the likelihood of mutations that can drive cancer development. Using living bacteria to generate the unstable toxin in real time, the team demonstrated that colibactin preferentially targets…
Multi-cancer early detection blood tests, designed to identify cancer signals from a single blood draw, are rapidly gaining interest from patients, employers, and health systems — despite the fact that none are yet approved by U.S. regulators. In a detailed examination, The New York Times reports that demand is accelerating even as physicians and researchers remain uncertain about how these tests should be used, interpreted, or paid for. The most prominent test, Galleri, has now been prescribed more than 420,000 times, according to its manufacturer, GRAIL, which plans to seek FDA approval in 2026. Proponents argue these tests could help…
In a recent ASGE blog, Harish Gagneja, MD of Austin Gastroenterology, examines whether private equity partnerships can truly support the long-term sustainability of independent medical practices. He explores why specialty groups are increasingly attractive to investors, the operational lift PE can provide, and the risks of short-term financial incentives—arguing that durable partnerships depend on physician-led governance, transparency, and alignment around patient care rather than rapid exits.
The U.S. gastroenterologist shortage is no longer a temporary staffing problem—it’s a structural crisis decades in the making. Fewer trainees entering the field, frozen Medicare funding for fellowships, early retirements, and soaring demand for procedures like colonoscopy and ERCP have created a widening annual deficit, driving salaries, locum costs, and hospital strain to historic highs. The warning is stark: for many health systems, the only thing costlier than hiring a gastroenterologist is not having one at all.
An international Delphi study from the OperA project identified unresolved legal, ethical, and equity challenges as major obstacles to integrating AI into gastrointestinal endoscopy. Fourteen experts reached consensus on 10 priority issues across data governance, medicolegal responsibility, and bias—highlighting the need for stronger data protection, clarity on liability for AI-assisted decisions, and more diverse training datasets to ensure fair and accountable use of AI in GI practice.
Facing rising labor costs, payer compression, and administrative drag, GI Partners of Illinois is rejecting the idea that margin erosion is inevitable. Instead, the group is defending profitability through five deliberate levers—site-of-service shifts, GI-only ASC expansion, enterprise AI to cut friction, AI-enabled revenue recapture, and scale-driven payer negotiations—positioning operations, not cost-cutting, as the core strategy for sustainability in 2026.
CONMED Corporation announced plans to exit its gastroenterology product lines, accelerating a strategic shift toward its core markets in minimally invasive, robotic, laparoscopic surgery, smoke evacuation, and orthopedic soft tissue repair. The move will end its distribution of the Gore® VIABIL® biliary stent by January 2026 and is expected to generate near-term EPS dilution, while improving the company’s long-term margin profile and capital allocation flexibility.
Researchers found that a hybrid “2M+1H” model—combining two independently trained machine-learning systems with limited gastroenterologist adjudication—matched the accuracy of traditional expert central reading while cutting human review workload by more than 80%. In an analysis of 150 full-length endoscopy videos, the AI-led approach achieved strong agreement with expert reference standards and showed comparable performance for key trial endpoints such as endoscopic improvement and remission. Just as striking, the study exposed a vulnerability in current practice: nearly one in six videos received different final scores depending on which human readers were assigned. By using AI as a first-pass scorer and reserving…
Bariatric care is entering a new era. As endoscopic weight-loss procedures become safer, less invasive, and more durable, experts say demand for bariatric interventions is set to rise—even as GLP-1 medications surge. In a recent episode of The Scope, gastroenterologists David Robbins, MD, and Steven Shamah, MD, discuss advances in endoscopic bariatrics, the relatively modest training needed to offer these procedures, reimbursement realities, and why physicians will play an even bigger role as obesity continues to grow.