A new study claims to show that primary care physicians performing colonoscopies in licensed ASCs have comparable performance quality indicators and lesion detection rates to those for experienced gastroenterologists.
The study, published in the journal Medical Care and conducted by researchers from the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, examined data on 10,958 colonoscopies performed by 51 PCPs on 9,815 patients from Oct. 2002 to Nov. 2007.
The tests were performed at a licensed ASC with standby GI specialist (gastroenterologists/GI surgeons) support available if the PCP experienced any complications or difficulties.
The lead researcher in the study is Sudha Xirasagar, MBBS, PhD, an associate professor and the director of the Master of Health Administration program at the school.
Read the abstract of the study "Quality and Safety of Screening Colonoscopies Performed by Primary Care Physicians With Standby Specialist Support."