The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have released proposed payment rules for physician services and facility fees for calendar year 2024. The GI societies are disappointed and concerned to see a proposed cut to reimbursement. Watch for alerts on our advocacy efforts and how you can help. The proposed rules also included positive news, including increased facility fees, new codes to increase health equity, and telemedicine reimbursement.
Author: Rutali Thakur
CMS suggested a 3.34 percent conversion factor decrease in its proposed Medicare physician fee schedule for 2024. Two gastroenterologists connected with Becker’s to discuss their thoughts on the proposal. Note: These responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity. Stephen Amann, MD. Gastroenterologist at Digestive Health Specialists (Tupelo, Miss.): Unfortunately, CMS continues to focus on cuts to the front-line providers for Medicare recipients. I am certainly cognizant of the general financial pressure on CMS and Medicare, but fulfilling their promises on the back of the providers is problematic. These cuts continue to undermine physician practice’s ability to provide access and care to the Medicare…
Exton, Pennsylvania, July 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) suggests just over seventy percent of American adults are overweight, including 40% being clinically obese. Nearly twenty percent of children are obese, rising from 12% of those 2-5 years of age to over 22% of those 12-19 years of age. Analysis from the NIH identified the origin of the US obesity epidemic starting in the late seventies, when the prevalence was roughly 15%, rising steadily through the turn of the century to 30% and continuing to present day. Worldwide, the rise of obesity has seen similar…
A Bethany, Okla., resident is suing Oklahoma City-based Integris Health, alleging that the system allowed third parties to take personal patient healthcare information for advertising purposes, according to a July 14 report from The Oklahoman. The class-action suit filed this week claims companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft and Reddit gained personal information from patients who used Integris’ website to learn about physicians, services, health conditions and treatment options.
In my more than 30-year career as a registered dietitian in gastroenterology, it has been exciting to see the role of dietitians in gastrointestinal conditions become validated and expanded upon, most markedly over the past 10 years. As credentialed food and nutrition experts, dietitians play a powerful role in the care of GI patients. This makes sense — food first meets our body via the GI tract and is essential for life. Adequate, well-balanced nutrition is vital to our well-being, gut function and gut microbiota, and also improves health outcomes and GI symptom management.
TOPLINE: The predictive value of the multitarget stool DNA (mt-sDNA) test is unaffected by the presence of known colorectal cancer (CRC) risk factors, suggesting it could be used in patients at increased risk for CRC. METHODOLOGY:
DALLAS, July 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ –A GI Alliance, the nation’s premier gastroenterology management organization, is expanding its Connecticut footprint through a partnership with Coastal Digestive Care Center. This partnership is a joint venture with four Connecticut Gastroenterology (CTGI) physician owners. These physicians and their CTGI colleagues will continue to provide care at this location. The GI-focused ambulatory surgery center “ASC” includes 2 endoscopy suites and is the first ASC partnership for GI Alliance in Connecticut. GI Alliance partnered with CTGI in January of 2023, the largest independent gastroenterology practice in the state.
The American Antitrust Institute (AAI), in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth (Equitable Growth), announced the release of a new report on private equity ownership in healthcare. The report, Monetizing Medicine: Private Equity and Competition in Physician Practice Markets, highlights private equity’s voracious acquisition of physician practices over the last several years. The analysis evaluates market penetration across 10 physician practice specialties within markets across the U.S., the impact on market shares and concentration, and on prices and expenditures.
The first half of 2023 has already seen landmark FDA decisions in the gastroenterology space, including multiple first-in-class therapies along with two costly rejections that highlight persistent gaps in the GI drug armory. Since April, the agency has approved several firsts in the GI field, including the first drug to treat functional constipation in children, the first oral microbiota biotherapeutic for recurrent C. difficile and the first oral product to treat moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease.
A recent Goldman Sachs report determined that artificial intelligence (AI) may wipe out 300 million jobs. Jobs that require advanced education, like mine, are particularly vulnerable. This isn’t welcome news for those of us who have invested a lifetime mastering our crafts and must work for a living. Until recently, the primary goal of medical students has been to master the science of medicine. Students spend thousands of hours learning anatomy, biochemistry, histology, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, and much more. That knowledge is essential for the effective practice of medicine.