A team at Washington University in St. Louis developed an imaging technique for rectal tissues to assess risk management of colorectal cancer. Biomedical professor Quing Zhu, PhD, and her team created the imaging technique, acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy coregistered with ultrasound, and paired it with artificial intelligence, according to a March 26 news release. The imaging was better at identifying residual tumors in treated rectal bed tissues. AR-PAM/US imaging was better at discerning residual cancer from scar tissue compared to other techniques such as an MRI. Results of the research were published in Radiology March 23.
Author: Praveen Suthrum
Last year the pandemic forced many ASCs to close or limit surgical volume, but enterprising administrators took the time as an opportunity to evaluate their growth strategy, improve culture, acquire new technology and become more efficient. Here are the responses from seven ASC leaders to the question: What was the smartest thing you did last year to set your center up for success? Steven Jascewsky. Administrator of Wellspring Pain Solutions (Columbus, Ind.): The smartest thing we did was to not furlough any employees who didn’t need to be furloughed. We maintained the quality of our staff throughout in preparation for resumption.…
Gastroenterologists reverse “do not resuscitate” orders to full code status more than 75% of the time prior to starting endoscopy, the results of a recent study show. In addition, most respondents said they do not usually discuss code status with their patients before beginning inpatient endoscopy. The findings were published in January in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. “You always want to make sure that you’re following the patient’s wishes, and you can only do so if you have the conversation,” said lead author Lauren D. Feld, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Washington, in Seattle. “It’s so ingrained to many people…
New York City-based NYU Langone received a $2.2 million grant to expand a program addressing disparities in colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal health. The grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation will support an early intervention program in the city’s Brooklyn borough focused on better outcomes for gastrointestinal diseases and cancers, according to a March 31 news release.
Here are eight recent partnerships between healthcare organizations and big tech companies including Amazon, Apple and Google. 1. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh developed a new machine learning tool to be used in clinical forecasting, which Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure funded. 2. Intermountain Healthcare, Ascension and Amazon Care became founding members of a new healthcare coalition aimed at expanding home-based clinical care. 3. Google and St. Louis-based Ascension continued their 2018 collaboration by rolling out a tool to help clinicians better organize and search for patient information. 4. Apple updated Apple Maps March 16 with a vaccine availability and locator tool developed by the CDC and…
Jason Richardson is the CEO of Boulder, Colo.-based Gastroenterology of the Rockies. Mr. Richardson spoke with Becker’s ASC Review about the influx of private equity in the ASC industry and how he thinks President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief law, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, could help ASCs. Question: Is private equity investment good or bad for ASCs? Why? Jason Richardson: There are tradeoffs with private equity investment in healthcare. The good is that it will accelerate transition of procedures from hospitals to the lower-cost ASCs by infusing capital investments into ASC development.
Misunderstandings of Cologuard and shifts in reimbursement are some concerns gastroenterologists have for the field. Two GIs told Becker’s ASC Review what they feel are the biggest threats to gastroenterology. Note: Responses were lightly edited for style. Brian Dooreck, MD. Gastroenterologist at Memorial Hospital Pembroke (Pembroke Pines, Fla.): I see one of the greatest threats to gastroenterology is through a very well-calculated and well-funded marketing campaign and a great degree of misinterpretation of what Cologuard actually “detects.” What is the true role in colorectal cancer “prevention” versus its role in colon cancer “detection”? What I recommend to myself and my family is to…
The addition of real-time computer-aided detection in colonoscopy significantly increased the adenoma detection rate and adenomas detected per colonoscopy in colorectal cancer screening, according to a presentation at ESGE Days. “[An] expert endoscopist can benefit from the artificial intelligence, increasing the detection,” Alessandro Repici, MD, professor of gastroenterology, director of digestive endoscopy unit at Humanitas Research Hospital in Rozzano, Italy, said during his presentation. “This benefit is prevalent when adhered by the expert endoscopist including an interference between the [computer-aided detection (CAD-e)] and the level of experience of the operator.”
GI OnDEMAND has recently partnered with Ambry Genetics to integrate online genetic counseling and testing services into gastroenterology practices in the United States to better identify hereditary gastrointestinal cancer syndromes. According to a press release, GI OnDEMAND will offer the CARE (Comprehensive, Assessment, Risk, and Education) program through the partnership. The program automates the process for genetic screening by sending to patients that are being seen in GI practices an electronic family history assessment tool in order to risk stratify them for the need for genetic testing. If patients meet criteria, an automated genetic testing cascade will ensue.
Physician services was one of the top five active sectors for health-care transactions in February and is on pace to reach well over 300 deals in 2021. The first two months of the year saw 71 deals involving more than a dozen physician specialties, including primary care (16), eye care (15), orthopedics (6), and gastroenterology (5). Twenty-five deals were announced or closed in February, up from 19 during the same month last year. There were 208 physician practices deals in 2020. Consolidation of physician practices can be a concern to health insurers, employers, and consumers because it can lead to…