Outsourcing certain staff functions in a practice to outside contractors working in remote locations has become commonplace in many medical practices. Healthcare outsourcing services, also known as virtual assistants (VAs), were already booming in 2017, when volume grew by 36%. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 normalized offsite work, which was a boon to outsourcing providers. The most popular services being outsourced today by medical practices include billing, scribes, telephone calls to patients, and processing prior authorizations.
Author: Rutali Thakur
The phenomenon of private equity (PE) companies purchasing medical practices is receiving greater scrutiny from academicians, journalists, and government regulators. Many recent stories do not portray the private equity model in a favorable light. As I discussed in an earlier Forbes piece, under the private equity model an investment fund purchases a medical practice. The current physician owners receive some combination of cash and/or stock in the larger entity (often with a vesting period and other restrictions such as a non-disparagement clause if they leave the practice). In exchange, they work as employees for the new owners, who set business policy. The new…
Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic was named the best hospital for gastroenterology and GI surgery in 2023 by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report ranked 164 hospitals across 15 specialties, including gastroenterology and GI surgery. Read more about the methodology here. Here are the top 50 hospitals for gastroenterology and GI surgery: Note: Some hospital rankings were tied based on their scores. 1. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) 2. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)
The device, one of the only artificial intelligence solutions cleared for colonoscopy, will be updated in the future to expand its functionality. HAIFA, Israel, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — MAGENTIQ-EYE LTD., an Israeli-based technology company founded in 2014, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the MAGENTIQ-COLO™ via the 510(k) process. The device, which offers the gastroenterology community and its patients a significant increase in Adenoma Detection Rate (ADR), will be available in the United States in the coming weeks. The FDA clearance comes on the heels of the European CE Mark and Israel AMAR approval, which were received…
The availability of generic antiviral drugs to manage chronic hepatitis B resulted in significant savings to Medicare, despite an increase in prescriptions, according to an analysis by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. The findings were published July 8 in Gastroenterology. About 1.6 million people in the United States live with chronic hepatitis B. There is no cure currently, but some medications can suppress the virus and limit liver damage. However, the high cost of brand-name drugs is often a barrier for many people who must take the drugs for life, leading to treatment non-compliance and subsequent health complications.
Artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostic purposes represents a potential technology breakthrough in medicine. Its diagnostic application within gastroenterology and hepatology conditions has grown quickly and robustly, with its first United States Food and Drug Administration authorization for use in 2021. As research funding and commercial development continue at a fast pace, the question of where AI-based diagnosis can have the biggest impact has not been sufficiently addressed. Although improvement in the diagnosis of any condition has benefits, there are also real costs associated with implementing AI-based solutions and opportunity costs associated with prioritizing funding and development decisions.
Join Susan Biali Haas, a physician and author of The Resilient Life: Manage Stress, Prevent Burnout, & Strengthen Your Mental and Physical Health. In this episode, we delve into the personality traits that contribute to physician burnout and vulnerability, based on Susan’s expertise and experience working with physicians in her coaching practice. We explore the impact of high neuroticism, introversion, extreme conscientiousness, and agreeableness on physician well-being. Susan shares practical strategies for shifting negative thinking patterns, setting boundaries, and finding balance in a demanding work environment.
Value-based healthcare, the holy grail of American medicine, has three parts: excellent clinical quality, convenient access and affordability for all. And as with the holy grail of medieval legend, the quest for value-based care has been filled with failure. In the 20th century, U.S. medical groups and hospital systems could—at best—achieve two elements of value-based care, but always at the sacrifice of the third. Until recently, American medicine lacked the clinical knowhow, technology and operational excellence to accomplish all three, simultaneously. We now have the tools. The only thing missing is “system-ness.”
TOPLINE: Adults with high-risk serrated polyps (with or without high-risk adenomas) have a high risk for metachronous colorectal cancer (CRC) within a median of 3 years after the baseline colonoscopy for a positive fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screen, a study suggests. METHODOLOGY:
As private equity increasingly invests in ASCs and physician groups, some leaders are concerned about its effect on patient outcomes and costs. Here’s what seven ASC and physician leaders have to say about private equity in the last six months. Jayesh Dayal, MD. Anesthesiologist at White Flint Surgery (Rockville, Md.): As a standalone ASC, we seem to have no negotiating power with any of the insurers and seem to be at the bottom of the procedure reimbursement rungs. The larger health systems, with access to hospital outpatient department rates and private-equity owned ASCs, with their nationwide heft, seem to be able…