PE GI Journal - December 2022

A publication dedicated to advancing GI Practices and ASCs

2022: The Year of Changes, Advancements and Challenges

2022 in Review

PE GI Solutions Looks Back at 2022

For PE GI Solutions, 2022 has been a year of continued growth and recovery. This year was filled with accomplishments and challenges, but our partners and teammates have once again shown an unwavering dedication to provid ing the highest-quality patient care. Below are some of the major moments of the past year and reflections on how these moments improved the quality of our service.

Gastroenterology Ltd. Of VA Beach Joins Capital Digestive Care

Early March brought good news for PE GI Solutions’ strategic partner Capital Digestive Care (CDC). The group announced their partnership with Gastroenterology Ltd.

Of Virginia Beach, a premier GI practice in Southern Virginia with an advanced endoscopy center and 15 board-certified physicians. The partnership will provide expanded access to patient care, as it marks CDC as the largest private GI practice in the Mid-Atlantic region.

First PE GI Solutions Partner

Implements GI Genius

PE GI Solutions partners began implement ing the new artificial intelligence-based GI Endoscopy Module from Medtronic, GI Genius. Central Jersey Ambulatory Surgery Center became the first PE GI Solutionspartnered location to begin using the technology, with several others following suit

throughout the year. GI Genius has opened the door for an increased presence of AI in the GI industry and will continue to improve patient outcomes for years to come.

Evolving with the Growth of the GI Industry

2022 has brought with it rapid changes throughout the GI industry. As new tech nologies and innovations have emerged, PE GI Solutions has worked to ensure that our partners are aware of the benefits for their practices or ambulatory surgery centers, allow ing us to help improve growth and profitability.

Emerson Hospital, PE GI Solutions Partner

In March, PE GI Solutions and Emerson Hospital formed a strategic partnership to open Emerson Endoscopy & Digestive Health Center. The center complements Emerson’s existing hospital-based endoscopy unit, providing patients the choice of receiv ing care in a hospital or outpatient setting.

Editorial Staff

Suzette Sison Editor in Chief ssison@pegisolutions.com

Kelly McCormick

Digital/Managing Editor kmccormick@pegisolutions.com

Contributing Writers: Lynn Hetzler, Jake Keator, Robert Kurtz and Rachael Samonski

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Let’s Grow Together!

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Celebrating Our Physicians

PE Physician partners had big achievements in 2022

Throughout 2022, our partnering physicians have displayed their commitment to the practice of medicine and their surrounding communities. We congratulate these physicians on what they’ve done and look forward to seeing what they do in 2023. Here are a few highlights from the year:

Guts

and Glory Marks Its 9th Year of Fundraising

PE GI Solutions physician partner Dr. Aparna Mele heads a nonprofit organization, My Gut Instinct, which hosted its 9th Annual Guts and Glory event this year in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Every year, My Gut Instinct hosts this event to educate and unite the community in taking initiative on gut health.

Dr. Brett Bernstein Becomes Medical

Director of GI for Mount Sinai Dr. Brett Bernstein, a PE GI Solutions physician partner, became the Medical Director of GI Services for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. Dr Bernstein is one of the original founding mem bers of The Endoscopy Center of New York and has been Medical Director of that center since 2009.

Dr. Jessica Korman Published in the New England Journal of Medicine

Capital Digestive Care physician Dr. Jessica Korman was published in the New England Journal of Medicine for her co-authored study on determining whether treating anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) is effective in reducing the incidence of anal cancer in people living with HIV.

Endoscopy Center at Robinwood Rings in Its 20th Year

PE GI Solutions partner, the Endoscopy Center at Robinwood, celebrated its 20th anniversary on October 22. About the anniversary, Center Administrator Penny Nicarry said: “Over the past 20 years, the staff and providers of the Endoscopy Center at Robinwood have proudly served our local community in meeting its gastroenterology surgical needs. It is a true pleasure to work with a group of dedicated professionals.”

For more news about PE partners and insights into the GI industry, visit pegisolutions.com.

Karlsson/Heimsmyndir

Photos courtesy of Guts & Glory Digestive and Wellness Expo.

Changes, Advancements

2022: The Year of and Challenges

7 key GI industry takeaways heading into next year

Looking back at 2022, PE GI Solutions President and Chief Executive Officer David Young says the year has been difficult for GI providers, and he expects some of the challenges facing the industry to continue into the new year. But he’s also encouraged by recent developments and recognizes that opportunities exist to help alleviate burdens facing the GI community.

The following are some of Young’s most significant take aways from 2022.

1. The GI Doctor Role Is More Important Than Ever

Young sees what he describes as an “increased awareness” around the importance of GI and digestive health and the role of the GI provider in maintaining that health. This

is resulting in encouraging changes for the industry.

“There seems to be much more patient awareness of and comfort with GI health, including colonoscopies. This is opening up dialogue between patients and providers,” Young says. “In addition, you’re seeing the likes of pharmaceutical companies, research organiza tions, medical device organizations and technology com panies all trying to figure out how and where to invest to enhance clinical outcomes and the patient experience. Payors and the government are also paying closer attention to GI these days.”

Such recognition by so many different constituents is fur ther elevating the importance of GI in the broader healthcare

David Young, President & CEO, PE GI Solutions

system, Young says. “These constituents are all recogniz ing GI doctors have a significant role to play in effectively being the primary care doctor for many patients and having a substantial impact on the downstream cost of care and outcomes.”

2.

Increasing Interest in Colon Cancer

and Colonoscopies

It’s been more than 20 years since Katie Couric broadcast her colonoscopy—a decision that helped raise awareness of the importance of the screening and led to a surge in the number of procedures performed. Over the past few years, efforts to further awareness have received boosts from a variety of sources.

“Like Couric, one of the most significant factors has been high-profile celebrities coming out with cancer issues or publicizing their colonoscopy,” Young says. Among them: Jimmy Kimmel undergoing his first screen ing on camera in 2018, Chadwick Boseman’s death from colorectal cancer in 2020, and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McEl henney getting colonoscopies on camera in September 2022. “Publicly recognized people talking about digestive health is definitely making a difference. Their messages are getting amplified and reaching millions of people thanks to social media. Telling people you had a colonoscopy now doesn’t seem as big of a deal as it did even just five years ago.”

Young also praises the efforts of associations and GI doctors to provide more clinical education and make such materials more easily accessible online. “When someone thinks something might be wrong with them, the default first step for many people is going online to do research. The ability to find information through websites and mobile apps about GI dis eases and specialists is helping people get more comfortable with GI and digestive health. When patients understand why they need to take these more seriously, they are more likely to reach out to a specialist and get involved in the GI experience.”

3. Provider

Burnout Requires

More Recognition and Attention

GI doctors deserve a great deal of praise for their efforts this year as they worked to reduce the backlog of patients and treatments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Young says. But those efforts have had consequences.

“When you look at the productivity of these doctors during the first several months of the year, it was incredible,” he says. “They worked their tails off to try to get caught up, but they’re still not really caught up. The result is there’s a lot of fatigue, both mental and physical, which is why we’re seeing doctors justifiably taking more vacations and time off. We’re

at a point as an industry where we must be looking at ways to create better work-life balance for the doctors, as well as their teams and staff, if we’re going to maintain long-term consistency of patient access.”

4. Staffing Challenges Add More Pressure

GI providers continue to encounter and are trying to navigate various staffing challenges, Young says. This includes nursing availability and wage pressures, which are making it more difficult to maintain stable teams and work environments and have made recruitment and retention more difficult. “Doc tors are feeling it from both ends,” he says. “It’s hard to keep your head in a good place under all those pressures.”

5. Demand for Outpatient GI Care Is on the Rise

The rise in provider burnout and staffing challenges come at a particularly inopportune time for those doctors working at outpatient facilities like GI centers and other ambula tory surgery centers. Numerous factors have steadily been contributing to the rising number of patients and procedures making their way to these facilities. More advanced clinical technology, improved anesthetics and physicians becoming more comfortable with minimally invasive approaches to care were already fueling outpatient migration. In the last few years, additional factors like price transparency laws, commercial payor preference, federal initiatives and physician alignment

“Publicly recognized people talking about digestive health is definitely making a difference. ... Telling people you had a colonoscopy now doesn’t seem as big of a deal versus even just five years ago.”

— David Young, President and CEO of PE GI Solutions

Insights

7. Advancements in Technology Can Improve Care—and Won’t

Make GI Doctors Irrelevant

Technology is rapidly advancing, and Young understands why recent developments in this area may have GI doctors con cerned about their futures. “A big fear is that the need for GI services will decline as technology changes. If I were a GI doctor, I would probably be wondering when there will be a pill patients can take, so they don’t need to have a colonoscopy anymore.”

with management services organizations (MSO) rollup groups have further accelerated this migration of care.

There was also the significant 2021 issuing of new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for colorectal cancer stating that people at average risk should start screening at age 45 instead of the traditional 50. “You have the pleasant fact that there are now a lot more patients qualified for care, and so many of these patients are dealing with preventive issues,” Young says. “Preventive management leads to really good long-term patient outcomes and cost of care. But the challenge is there are simply not enough GI doctors. This has the potential to contribute to an even larger backlog of patients—both those coming for their first GI experience like a screening colonoscopy at 45 and those coming for a revisit—and scheduled appointments being pushed out further than we would like.”

6. GI Doctors Must Share the Workload

Given the growth in number of patients and patient appoint ments being delayed, Young says GI doctors must figure out how they can see more patients at the times when patients would benefit most from this encounter—in other words, when GI doctors are practicing at the top of their license. To accom plish such a goal requires GI doctors to assemble clinical teams capable of supporting patients through their various levels of GI care. This team would comprise advanced practice provid ers, physician assistants and nurses, among others.

“If we hope to better manage availability for and access to GI doctors, we must start working more toward these ‘top-ofyour-license’ teams,” Young says. “By doing so, we can better triage patients and ensure they see the right licensure at the right time. Many GI doctors have not followed this model in the past, but considering there are already too many patients for doctors, if we don’t embrace this approach, patient care may suffer. We may limit the preventive access that’s needed.”

Rather than fear technology, Young recommends that GI doctors welcome it. He points to a solution like GI Genius, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assist clinicians in detecting lesions during a colonoscopy, as a technology that won’t replace GI doctors but can help provide better care and outcomes. “The use of AI thorough a device like GI Genius can identify polyps that maybe a doctor might have missed. The doctor is essentially getting a second set of eyes when they use this technology. We recognize that colonos copy is the gold standard, but there’s nothing that says we can’t improve on the gold standard with technology.”

The addition of technologies like GI Genius and others won’t make a GI doctor redundant or replaceable because the doctor remains the clinical expert, Young says. Technol ogy will simply continue to change the ways patients can receive care and how doctors provide care. “That’s good news if it can enable more patient access to care, even if the care delivery system now involves the use of AI, infusion, oral drugs or other mechanisms. What we’re likely looking at are different modalities of care. Eventually, some patients may be able to move to popping a pill versus having an endoscopy or other procedure. But there will always be plenty of patients who need care that can only be delivered by a GI doctor.”

To GI doctors who are concerned about their future or unsure how to best grow their practices and centers, Young emphasizes that assistance is available. “There are organi zations like PE GI Solutions working on behalf of doctors to help with staffing and recruiting, compensation analysis and retention management; changing work processes to better incorporate additional clinical team members; and adding transformative technology. The right partnership can help GI doctors alleviate some of the significant pressures they are facing. This should translate to a better work-life balance for doctors and their clinical teams and more patients receiving the timely care they need.”

“We recognize that colonoscopy is the gold standard, but there’s nothing that says we can’t further improve on the gold standard with technology.”

— David Young, President and CEO of PE GI Solutions

A New Partnership May Be a Path to Success in 2023

Embracing Innovation

10 digital initiatives for your practice or center

Digital innovations in the healthcare industry con tinue to rapidly expand, creating new avenues for improved patient care, efficiencies and better patient experiences. GI practices are well-positioned to take advantage of these innovations. Here are 10 ways your practice or center can incorporate digital and techno logical initiatives:

1. Maximize your use of social media. Social media is increasingly important for reviews and reputa tion management, and both patients and physicians are using the technology regularly.

2. Use chatbots on your website. Chatbots provide access to “on-demand” healthcare, a com mon expectation of today’s patients.

3. Organize your data for higher-quality care. Taking a look at how you organize your practice’s data can pay dividends: It lowers the risk of medication errors, improves preventive care and makes staffing decisions clearer.

4. Be open to artificial intelligence (AI). AI is becoming increasingly integrated into GI processes and technology. Be open to researching AI tech and making it a part of your practice or center.

5. Maintain and update your patient portal. As part of the “on-demand” healthcare trend, an updated and unique patient portal can drastically improve your practice or center’s reputation and patient experience.

6. Continue use of telehealth. While telehealth use is declining nationally, it remains a vital piece of patient interaction and efficiency for physicians.

7. Share your membership in GI organizations/communities. Actively share and promote your inclusion in various asso ciations and groups via social media. This activity can help improve your reputation and boost your online identity.

8. Curate blog and video content. Hosting a blog where you create or curate relevant GI content can help promote your center or practice as a respected thought leader. Outside content should be pulled from and attributed to highly respected GI organizations, such as Becker’s or PE GI Solutions’ PE GI Journal Blog.

9. Allow for digital navigation (DN) via cellphones. DN improves the patient experience while decreasing the rate of no-show appointments. DN allows patients to receive reminders and important information via text message or calendar reminders.

10. Provide patient feedback opportunities. Send a feedback form to patients following their visits. This can be done via text messaging or email and can help you target areas of improvement or provide recognition to staff members in well-performing aspects.

For more in-depth insights into tech trends, the latest GI industry news and more, check out our blog at pegijournal.com.

WHAT WE DO

We partner with gastroenterologists in private practice, providing resources to improve operations, drive growth and enhance patient, physician and staff experiences—all while maintaining their independence.

Our strategy is aligned with your interests in tackling the following challenges:

• Career security and stability

• Succession and recruitment strategies

• Growing administrative costs and burdens

• Shifting regulatory and reporting requirements

• Preparation to move from fee-for-service to value-based care

• Competition from hospital and other physician practice models

• Declining reimbursements paired with a need to invest in technology, security, marketing and patient engagement

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