Becker's ASC Review

17 GASTROENTEROLOGY What will the gastroenterology industry look like in 10 years? By Riz Hatton From robot nurses to a change in how patients are cared for, the gastroenterology industry could look vastly different in 10 years. Sheldon Taub, MD, a gastroenterologist at Jupiter (Fla.) Medical Center, connected with Becker's to discuss what the gastroenterology industry will look like 10 years from now. Editor's note: is response has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Question: What will the gastroenterology industry look like 10 years from now? Dr. Sheldon Taub: I've been doing this for a long time and [gastroenterology] has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. I anticipate further change in the next 10 years, or certainly a lot more. Artificial intelligence — I'm not smart enough to know where it's going to play out, but it's certainly going to have a role in the decision-making. It will have a role with radiology, with pathology and certainly with endoscopy. e other thing is that I think we're going to see a change in how patients are taken care of. I think almost every patient will be assigned a team, and that will probably consist of a physician, maybe a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant, a pharmacist, a physical therapist, and probably a psychologist or somebody to kind of bring the whole team together psychologically. I think we'll see an increase in foreign medical graduates. We're seeing it now and I think it's the government's pushing to make it easier for foreign medical graduates to get into the country, and I think that's gonna be a big part of GI as well. I've seen a change in that in the last 10 to 15 years, and I think it's going to become more prominent as well. e other thing is telehealth. Telehealth is here to stay and it's going to be routine for general GI groups. I think that telehealth will be [used for] wellness visits, colon screenings, uncomplicated GI questions. Complicated questions will probably still require an office visit. I think that you're going to see physician groups changing as well, not only in overall [healthcare], but in GI. ere will probably still be private, concierge-type practices, but I think the government's going to step in and you probably have some type of government-run practice. Walmart, Amazon and Costco will probably run practices. You'll have bigger and bigger private equity groups coming in, which were involved with the group I was with, and I think that's going to get more and more prominent as well as hospital-run groups. You may even see pharmacies, CVS or Walgreens, have physicians including gastroenterologists in their practice. Finally, unfortunately, I think I'm going to be working in a procedure room where there will be robots and my nurse won't be a nurse anymore. It'll be a robot. Sad to say it, but I think that's going to be a big part of medicine as well. n Why gastroenterology is attractive to private equity By Patsy Newitt G astroenterology practices have become increasingly attractive to private equity firms in the past several years, according to a May 2023 report from Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Private equity in gastroenterology is not new, but its presence is expanding. The number of private equity- backed gastrointestinal groups grew by 28% to 68 in 2021, according to a report jointly published by consulting firm Fraser Healthcare and pharma research firm Spherix Global Insights. "This trend has seen growing momentum in the past five years. The field presents an attractive PE target, as a significant portion of gastroenterologists remain in independent practices with ownership in ambulatory endoscopy centers," Rami Abbass, MD, a gastroenterologist at University Hospitals in Mentor, Ohio, told Becker's in 2021. "The growing regulatory environment, high cost of capital, administrative burdens and challenges of partner recruitment have made private equity attractive to some practices." According to the University of Michigan report, independent gastroenterologists are increasingly looking to private equity firms as a way to stabilize their finances as the industry consolidates. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, when many practices operated at less than 10% of endoscopy capacity. Some gastroenterologists who wanted to maintain independence from hospital employment saw private equity as a solution, according to the report. Private equity is also drawn to gastroenterology because of the "returns they could earn through consolidating the market," according to the report. Many gastroenterologists view private equity investment as a way to leverage their practice's reputation while PE-backed practices can access resources and the latest technology to manage practices smoothly, potentially giving them a market advantage. n

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