Linda Lee, MD, the medical director of endoscopy for Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, spoke with Becker's ASC Review to give tips for gastrointestinal practices to succeed in the next two years.
Here are her three tips:
1. Hospital-based practices should seek to have ambulatory endoscopy centers to perform routine procedures, as insurance companies may be starting to penalize hospitals for performing these in a hospital setting.
2. GI practices should focus on increasing efficiency by investing in technology that enables physicians and endoscopy units to work more efficiently. In endoscopy, this may include burgeoning artificial intelligence options to help not only with polyp detection, but also with peri-procedural work as well as with inventory management and patient calls. In the clinics, this would include automated dictation services and/or scribes.
3. Increase support with advanced practice providers who can either see patients with physicians — which allows physicians to see more patients in a session and bill at a higher rate than advanced practitioners can on their own — or have advanced practitioners staff their own clinics and see inpatient consults. Even though the billing will be lower, increased access will generate more procedures and other studies.