Gastro Broadcast

Dr. Michael Weinstein interviews Nicole Ringwood, director of nursing at Borland Groover in Jacksonville, Florida, and Sahir Jaggi, founder and chief executive officer of Forus, about the prior authorization burden on gastroenterology practices and how artificial intelligence can reduce it.

Forus uses AI to handle prior authorizations, appeals, financial assistance enrollment and pharmacy routing. Borland Groover piloted the platform in one office before expanding it across the practice, where prior authorizations had outpaced staff capacity and delayed patient access to medication. The practice can now see where each prescription stands, which medications and payers are producing denials, and how long patients are waiting for approval, none of which it could measure before.

Join Dr. Weinstein, Ringwood and Jaggi as they examine why medication access has become such a strain on gastroenterology practices, what it takes to change a workflow without adding to the clinical team's load, and what independent practices should consider when choosing a partner to help.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, Episode 96, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Lisa Mathew interviews Dr. Vivek Kaul, professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, about the arrival of a new technology and its endorsement in society guidelines, and how clinical practice models help physicians decide whether to adopt something new before the guidelines arrive.

Kaul served as project coordinator for the clinical practice model for TissueCypher, a test that predicts a patient's risk of progression from Barrett's esophagus to esophageal cancer. Gastroenterologists from academic centers, health systems, and private practice considered current risk stratification in Barrett's and developed a playbook for the practical questions that come with adopting a new test like TissueCypher, such as which patients are appropriate candidates, how to raise the option, and what a result means for the next steps in care.

Join Dr. Mathew and Dr. Kaul as they examine how societies produce guidelines and why the process takes time, which practice settings are represented in a clinical practice model, and how a physician in private practice can decide whether the model fits their patients.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 95, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Fred Rosenberg interviews Vish Srivastava, co-founder and chief executive officer of Century Health, which uses artificial intelligence to turn the clinical information in a practice's electronic health records into structured, real-world datasets that give physicians a clearer view of their patient populations.

Century Health has built its network by partnering with independent practices in neurology, nephrology, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. The Century Health Abstraction and Retrieval Model (CHARM) gives physicians a detailed picture of how their patients respond to treatment, and the care those practices deliver every day can contribute to research on conditions like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Join Fred and Vish as they examine why independent practices are central to Century Health's work, how the company approaches de-identification, security, and data ownership, and what practices should consider when evaluating a data or technology partner for the first time.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 94, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Lisa Mathew interviews Dr. Kevin Rank, chief medical officer at MNGI Digestive Health in Minnesota, about the practice's Links to Care Program, which provides free colonoscopies to uninsured patients across the Twin Cities and earned the National Achievement Award from the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable.

Links to Care works through partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers, community health centers where many uninsured patients already receive care, and covers the colonoscopy in full so there is no cost to the patient. MNGI recently increased access by dropping the requirement that a patient first have a positive stool test or a family history of colorectal cancer to qualify. That same focus on access drives culturally specific outreach, including working with the Hmong community, where screening rates lag well behind the state average.

Join Dr. Mathew and Dr. Rank as they explore how closing the gap in screening to prevent cancer can be some of the most rewarding work a physician does, and what it takes for an independent practice to build and sustain a similar program in its community.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 93, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Fred Rosenberg interviews Jay Kreger, chief executive officer of CRH Medical, a GI solutions company that provides anesthesia services to gastroenterology practices at more than 150 ambulatory surgery centers in 18 states, about how independent practices can keep anesthesia care reliable and accessible for patients.

Independent GI practices depend on anesthesia services for many of the procedures they perform, but face increasing difficulty maintaining anesthesia coverage, from competition with hospitals and health systems to reimbursement cuts from insurance companies. Partnering with a company that provides anesthesia and other services is one way practices can address these challenges and stay focused on patient care.

Join Fred and Jay as they discuss what options exist for practices that want to partner with an anesthesia services company, and the steps independent practices can take to keep dependable anesthesia care in place for their communities.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 92, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Michael Weinstein interviews Dr. Donevan Westerveld of Borland Groover in Jacksonville, Florida, about how his practice uses InterStim therapy to care for patients with fecal incontinence, a condition that affects an estimated 18 million Americans.

Despite the availability of effective treatments, fecal incontinence is under-diagnosed and under-treated, and roughly two thirds of those affected never discuss it with a physician. InterStim is a small, implanted device developed by Medtronic that helps restore communication between the brain and the nerves that control bowel function.

Join Dr. Weinstein and Dr. Westerveld as they discuss why Borland Groover brought InterStim therapy in-house, what it takes to integrate it into a GI practice, and how independent gastroenterologists can position themselves to care for patients who may otherwise go undiagnosed or untreated.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 91, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Kevin Harlen interviews Tom Wierzbowski, founder of Willow Risk Advisors, about how his firm helps physician practices and health care organizations manage professional liability and navigate today's malpractice insurance market.

Willow Risk Advisors specializes in building specialty-specific insurance programs for physician groups and associations, working directly with carriers to structure coverage that reflects the distinct risk profiles of independent practices.

Join Kevin and Tom as they explore how data collection and technology are improving underwriting and pricing for physician organizations, and what role carrier partnerships play in delivering risk management education and resources to providers and their practices.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 90, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Lisa Mathew interviews Dr. Lyndsey Burton, a diagnostic radiologist and chief medical officer at Heidi, about how its AI-powered tools are helping clinicians reduce administrative burden and reclaim time for patient care.

Heidi's suite of AI tools generates clinical notes in real time, provides access to evidence-based clinical research at the point of care, and manages patient scheduling and follow-up. Heidi can also help physicians identify what additional documentation is needed in a patient's record to support prior authorization requests. Dr. Burton provides a practical perspective on how independent GI practices can begin incorporating these tools into their workflow.

Join Dr. Mathew and Dr. Burton as they explore how AI is reshaping clinical practice over the next decade, what practices should look for when choosing a technology partner, and what physicians need to understand about the real-world impact of these tools on patient care.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden MargolisGastro Broadcast, episode 89, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Lisa Mathew interviews Dr. Steven Klein of Wilmington Gastroenterology about how UnitedHealthcare’s recent 15% reimbursement reduction for anesthesia services provided by certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) could affect the way independent gastroenterology practices structure anesthesia services and maintain patient access to procedures such as colonoscopy.

Dr. Klein explains how independent GI practices rely on CRNAs to provide anesthesia and how those services are structured within his practice, offering a practical view of how insurer policy decisions can reshape care delivery in outpatient endoscopy settings.

Join Dr. Mathew and Dr. Klein as they examine how this policy compounds existing pressures such as prior authorization requirements and site-of-service restrictions, the downstream effects on colorectal cancer screening and other procedures, and what insurers and policymakers need to understand about the real-world impact of these decisions on patient access.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, episode 88, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences

Dr. Lisa Mathew interviews Dru Riddle, Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Clinical Education in the School of Nurse Anesthesia at Texas Christian University and a past president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, about the role certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) play in providing anesthesia for GI care.

CRNAs are essential to maintaining access to GI procedures that require anesthesia, particularly in outpatient endoscopy centers where many GI practices rely on CRNAs as their primary anesthesia workforce.

UnitedHealthcare recently implemented a 15 percent reduction in reimbursement for anesthesia services provided by CRNAs, which could make it harder for outpatient endoscopy centers to maintain anesthesia coverage, push more care into hospital settings, and limit timely access to GI procedures.

Join Dr. Mathew and Dr. Riddle as they discuss the importance of CRNA-delivered anesthesia, the potential impact of insurer policy changes on patient access to GI care, and practical considerations for independent GI practices that are navigating these issues.

Produced by Andrew Sousa and Hayden Margolis for Steadfast Collaborative, LLC

Mixed and mastered by Hayden Margolis

Gastro Broadcast, Episode 87, presented by TissueCypher from Castle Biosciences