HHS began distributing $7.5 billion in payments to rural healthcare providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency announced Nov. 23. The $7.5 billion in American Rescue Plan payments are going to more than 40,000 providers that serve rural Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicare beneficiaries. The payments are going to providers in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and six U.S. territories. The average payment is about $170,700, with payments ranging from $500 to $43 million, HHS said.
Author: Praveen Suthrum
Although endoscopic resection of T1 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is associated with excellent overall survival, recurrence can occur years later, emphasizing the need for long-term surveillance, according to investigators. Recurrence was about twice as common among patients lacking complete remission of intestinal metaplasia (CRIM) upon follow-up, reported lead author Kevin Song, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz., and colleagues. “Endoscopic resection of early-stage EAC has gained acceptance in recent years,” Song said during his presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology. “While studies have demonstrated promising outcomes for short-term remission and recurrence, little is known about…
An analysis of national data over a 12-year period indicates that treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has improved significantly, along with patient outcomes. Researchers at Mayo Clinic found a 30% reduction in inpatient mortality and significantly shorter hospital length of stay (LOS) among those with CDI as their primary or secondary reason for admission between 2006 and 2018. Decreases in LOS and inpatient….
In a first, researchers at the UC San Francisco have successfully used the DNA-editing system, CRISPR to alter the genomes of bacteria living in the guts of mammals, a development which stands to advance our understanding of the microbiome and could eventually pave the way for treating gut-related disease. In the landmark study, published this month in the journal Cell Reports, the researchers were able to remove chunks of genes from the Escherichia coli bacteria living in the guts of mice and change the overall makeup of the bacterial communities populating their digestive systems.
Increased diversity in leadership casts a wider perspective for solving problems and bolstering health equity in patient care, according to a speaker at GI Outlook. Progress in building diversity in leadership has improved over the years, but disparity still remains, Amrita Sethi, MD, MASGE, of Columbia University Medical Center, said during a presentation. Focus on the data reveals that although women account for about 50% of medical school graduates, retention rates dwindle as they progress in their careers. Specifically, only 37% and less than 20% of GI fellows and advanced endoscopy fellows, respectively, are women. These numbers dip even lower…
Weight loss surgery significantly lowers the risk of major adverse liver outcomes as well as major acute cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), compared with similar patients who didn’t have surgery, new research shows. “This is the first study in the medical field reporting a treatment modality that is associated with decreased risk of major adverse events in patients with biopsy-proven NASH,” senior author Steven Nissen, MD, of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, said in a statement from the hospital. “The SPLENDOR study shows that in patients with obesity and NASH, substantial…
Key PointsQuestion Can educational virtual reality videos for patients improve the quality of bowel preparation before colonoscopy? Finding This randomized clinical trial including 346 participants found that patients educated by virtual reality videos had a higher mean Boston Bowel Preparation Scale score, indicating better bowel preparation, than patients educated by conventional methods. Meaning Virtual reality videos can be used as an effective patient education tool for bowel preparation before colonoscopy.
The nation’s largest pharmacy chain CVS plans to close 900 stores nationwide in the next three years as it restructures itself to offer more health services in the remaining locations. CVS Health will create three new distinct store formats aimed at driving higher engagement with consumers and to serve as community health destinations. These include traditional CVS Pharmacy stores, which will provide prescription services and health, wellness and personal care, sites specializing in primary care service offerings, and enhanced versions of HealthHUB locations, which offer screenings, monitoring, counseling and treatment options, as well as products for common health and wellness…
After creating an artificial intelligence tool using retrospective data, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Cheshire Medical Center are implementing the technology in a clinical trial. The tool was developed by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center researchers and uses artificial intelligence to classify the four major types of colorectal polyps removed during screening colonoscopy. The model produced accurate results comparable to pathologists and withstood evaluation using broad datasets from multiple institutions across the United States. According to researchers, this proves that the artificial intelligence model is generalizable and can be trained on widespread external data.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has a well-established association with the development of colorectal cancer, with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease known to increase the risk for this malignancy. Guidelines have consistently recommended colonoscopic surveillance beginning at 8 years after the onset of IBD symptoms in order to determine the extent of disease and to establish surveillance intervals. Historically, it has been the standard recommendation while the patient has quiescent disease for four-quadrant biopsies to be performed, randomly taken every 10 cm, with additional targeted biopsies of focal mucosal lesions suspect for dysplasia. Until recently, the identification of dysplasia in…