Becker's ASC Review

43 GASTROENTEROLOGY Gastro Health partners with 2 practices, expands into Ohio By Eric Oliver M iami-based Gastro Health partnered with Cincinnati-based Ohio Gastroenterology & Liver Institute and Woodbridge, Va.-based Associates in Gastroenterology in two separate deals, the platform announced Oct. 1. Ohio Gastroenterology has 22 physi- cians, two physician assistants and three ASCs. Pradeep Bekal, MD, Ohio GI presi- dent, will serve as Gastro Health's vice president of clinical affairs, Ohio. Ohio GI COO Daniel Walker manages the prac- tice's operations and assumed the role of division vice president of Ohio. This is Gastro Health's first deal in Ohio. Associates in Gastroenterology has 11 physicians, six advanced practice providers and five offices. The deal expands Gastro Health's presence in the state to eight of- fices and 42 providers. Private equity-backed Gastro Health has a presence in Florida, Alabama, Seattle, Virginia and Ohio. n US Preventive Services Task Force to recommend lowering CRC screening age to 45 By Eric Oliver A fter much debate, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force will issue guidance to lower the colorectal cancer screening age to 45 in response to growing early-onset CRC rates, NBC News reported. The task force issued draft guidelines Oct. 27. The guidelines are the lat- est in a growing number to recommend lowering the age. The American Cancer Society was the first to recommend lowering the age in May 2018. It's likely the task force's guidance will convince CMS and private pay- ers to cover screening colonoscopies for the 45-49-year-old age range, experts told NBC. Early-onset CRC is an alarming trend that has confounded researchers. John Wong, MD, chief scientific officer at Boston-based Tufts Medical Center, said that 10.3 percent of new CRC cases have occurred in people under the age of 50. New data also suggests that 45-year-old people face the same risk of developing CRC that 50-year-old people do. Otis Brawley, MD, a professor of oncology at Baltimore-based Johns Hop- kins School of Medicine, told NBC that the change is a breakthrough. "The USPSTF tends to be the most conservative and orthodox group in their interpretation of the scientific literature, and they rarely make a big change like this," he told NBC. "They are seeing the same thing the Ameri- can Cancer Society sees." n Initiating CRC screening at 45 added 20+ life years, decreased CRC incidence, model says By Eric Oliver U sing a noninvasive test to screen for colorectal cancer when a patient turned 45 years old added life years and decreased CRC incidence compared to starting screening when a patient turned 50 years old, according to a poster presented at ACG 2020, Oct. 23-28. Researchers used a microsimulation model to see possible outcomes of lowering the CRC screening initiation age. e model was used to see how screening 45-year- old patients with a multitarget stool DNA test every three years or a fecal immuno- chemical test every year could affect CRC incidence, mortality and life-years gained. Researchers modeled scenarios using re- ported adherence rates of 71 percent for mt- sDNA and 43 percent for FIT or at perfect adherence for both. What they found: 1. Screening patients at 45 years added 23.9 life-years gained for mt-sDNA and 24.4 for FIT. 2. Using reported adherence rates, CRC in- cidence dropped by 64.5 percent at 45 years and 61.1 percent at 50 years using mt-sDNA compared to no screening. CRC incidence also dropped by 53.7 percent at 45 years and 49.9 percent at 50 years using FIT. 3. CRC mortality rates also dropped for both tests. Rates dropped by 71.7 percent at 45 years and 68.7 percent at 50 years for mt-sDNA and 62.7 percent at 45 years and 59 percent at 50 years for FIT. Researchers concluded: "Noninvasive stool- based screening tests may serve as effec- tive early screening tools among younger populations. LYG and reductions in CRC incidence and mortality are greater when beginning screening at age 45 vs age 50, with gains applying to both pre-Medicare and Medicare populations. CRC outcomes were improved with a lower initiation age for both reported and perfect adherence model assumptions." ACG denoted the poster as a newsworthy abstract. It was one of 18 posters to receive the honor. n

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