Becker's ASC Review

22 GASTROENTEROLOGY NIH defunds 'critically important' GI program By Claire Wallace T he National Institutes of Health has withdrawn renewal grant applications for the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers. Patient advocacy organizations, including the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, have called on Congress and the Rare Disease Congressional Caucus to reinstate funding, according to an April 21 press release. "The withdrawal of the five-year renewal application for the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers jeopardizes critical funding for the only clinical care network for eosinophilic gastroenteritis patients in the United States. The fact that this withdrawal was not due to scientific merit makes it even more egregious. Diagnostic and therapeutic research efforts will be halted, and the collapse of this infrastructure will be devastating to our patients. This is a dangerous national precedent," said Carla Davis, MD, AAAAI president-elect and chair of the AAAAI scientific community task force for allergy/immunology research. The NIH withdrew funding for the "critically important" program in early April, citing new policy changes within the organization. This grant dismissal will affect millions of Americans involved in clinical trials and immediately halt life-saving research that supports patients living with these diseases, according to the release. n How AI is advancing the GI space By Cameron Cortigiano Artificial intelligence is making waves throughout the healthcare industry, and the gastroenterology sector is no different. Here are a few of the ways that the technology is moving GI forward in 2025, as reported by Becker's. Study findings and clinical guideline updates • Studies presented at Digestive Disease Week included some focused on the quality and empathy of AI responses versus those from physicians related to patient questions about gastrointestinal cancers. In the studies, ChatGPT outperformed physicians in the quality and empathy of responses to questions asked by patients. • e American Gastroenterological Association released new clinical guidelines on the use of AI in colonoscopies. While the organization did not explicitly recommend the use of AI, the AGA found that the technology can enhance the detection of colorectal polyps. At this point it is still not clear how effectively AI can prevent colorectal cancer. How gastroenterologists have used AI thus far • Up to this point, physicians have mostly been using AI in the workplace for administrative support and patient pre-screenings. • "Artificial intelligence has become part of our practice. We've deployed an AI visual interface during colonoscopy which can help detect precancerous lesions. Coming soon, we'll use AI dictation for clinic visits and hope to use AI to scour our incoming queue to flag 'high-risk' referrals to bring them to the top of the list for scheduling purposes," Omar Khokhar, MD, gastroenterologist and partner at Illinois Gastro Health in Bloomington told Becker's. • "We are using AI for our direct access colonoscopy program. We have partnered with Insight Health to administer a health questionnaire and intake form which asks pertinent questions prior to their colonoscopy to obtain their medical information, triage them if they need an office visit or proceed directly to schedule a colonoscopy," said Monina Pascua, MD, PharmD, clinic medical director and gastroenterologist at e Oregon Clinic in Portland. An example use case of AI in gastroenterology • Chicago-based GI Partners of Illinois has been active in entering partnerships centered around AI, which has led to improvements in diagnostics, workflows and patient engagement at the organization. • "When I took this role, we were stuck in the past. I told the executive board, '70% of the patients we'll see are millennials. If we don't have a digital presence and leverage AI, we'll fall behind,'" Dr. Geogy Vennikandam, COO of GI Partners of Illinois, told Becker's earlier this year. "We're developing an app, expanding partnerships and embracing AI to revolutionize patient care." n

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