Kathy Scarbeck

BOSTON – The innovators who presented their novel technologies to a “shark tank” panel during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology proved that innovation is alive and well in the field of gastroenterology.

“Shark Tank this year was fabulous,” Dr. Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, executive committee chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, said in a video interview. “It was great to see some really novel ideas and some great, innovative applications.”

Presenters received feedback on their proposals from representatives of the physician, medtech, and regulatory communities and were uniformly positive about the experience, citing the value of such information to decide whether or how to move their projects forward.

“Diving into meet with the “sharks” was “a great opportunity,” says Susan Hutfless, PhD., an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. “I’m still swimming, still alive ... I would do it again.”

[email protected]

BOSTON – The innovators who presented their novel technologies to a “shark tank” panel during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology proved that innovation is alive and well in the field of gastroenterology.

“Shark Tank this year was fabulous,” Dr. Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, executive committee chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, said in a video interview. “It was great to see some really novel ideas and some great, innovative applications.”

Presenters received feedback on their proposals from representatives of the physician, medtech, and regulatory communities and were uniformly positive about the experience, citing the value of such information to decide whether or how to move their projects forward.

“Diving into meet with the “sharks” was “a great opportunity,” says Susan Hutfless, PhD., an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. “I’m still swimming, still alive ... I would do it again.”

[email protected]

BOSTON – The innovators who presented their novel technologies to a “shark tank” panel during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology proved that innovation is alive and well in the field of gastroenterology.

“Shark Tank this year was fabulous,” Dr. Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, executive committee chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology, said in a video interview. “It was great to see some really novel ideas and some great, innovative applications.”

Presenters received feedback on their proposals from representatives of the physician, medtech, and regulatory communities and were uniformly positive about the experience, citing the value of such information to decide whether or how to move their projects forward.

“Diving into meet with the “sharks” was “a great opportunity,” says Susan Hutfless, PhD., an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. “I’m still swimming, still alive ... I would do it again.”

[email protected]

BOSTON – A lot has changed in GI technology since V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, the incoming chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology(CGIT), completed his GI fellowship training 15 years ago.

“I would say that between half and two-thirds of what I do today for actual patient care delivery is from technologies that have been completed since my fellowship or [from] applications of those technologies that are new,” he said in a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Technology Summit, which is sponsored by the center. So if you think you’re not impacted by innovation, think again.

“I think like many practicing physicians we have great technology, but we can think of ways to do things better,” continued Dr. Muthusamy, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the goals of the center is to streamline the process of taking a good idea and making it into a product and a company. Dr. Muthusamy said such streamlining is important because the current “daunting” development process has led to many good ideas “dying on the vine” before they could be implemented. He says the CGIT, by bringing together key stakeholders from the medical, business, and regulatory arenas, can help bring forth the latest technologies to directly benefit GI patients.

[email protected]

BOSTON – A lot has changed in GI technology since V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, the incoming chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology(CGIT), completed his GI fellowship training 15 years ago.

“I would say that between half and two-thirds of what I do today for actual patient care delivery is from technologies that have been completed since my fellowship or [from] applications of those technologies that are new,” he said in a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Technology Summit, which is sponsored by the center. So if you think you’re not impacted by innovation, think again.

“I think like many practicing physicians we have great technology, but we can think of ways to do things better,” continued Dr. Muthusamy, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the goals of the center is to streamline the process of taking a good idea and making it into a product and a company. Dr. Muthusamy said such streamlining is important because the current “daunting” development process has led to many good ideas “dying on the vine” before they could be implemented. He says the CGIT, by bringing together key stakeholders from the medical, business, and regulatory arenas, can help bring forth the latest technologies to directly benefit GI patients.

[email protected]

BOSTON – A lot has changed in GI technology since V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, the incoming chair of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology(CGIT), completed his GI fellowship training 15 years ago.

“I would say that between half and two-thirds of what I do today for actual patient care delivery is from technologies that have been completed since my fellowship or [from] applications of those technologies that are new,” he said in a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Technology Summit, which is sponsored by the center. So if you think you’re not impacted by innovation, think again.

“I think like many practicing physicians we have great technology, but we can think of ways to do things better,” continued Dr. Muthusamy, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the goals of the center is to streamline the process of taking a good idea and making it into a product and a company. Dr. Muthusamy said such streamlining is important because the current “daunting” development process has led to many good ideas “dying on the vine” before they could be implemented. He says the CGIT, by bringing together key stakeholders from the medical, business, and regulatory arenas, can help bring forth the latest technologies to directly benefit GI patients.

[email protected]

BOSTON – In the next 5 years there is going to be a “huge swing” in gastroenterology to minimally invasive therapies, improved diagnostics, and additional therapeutics and disease management strategies that can be applied on an ambulatory basis and, perhaps, even in the office.

That’s the prediction of Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who is the executive committee chair of the American Gastroenterological Association Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In a video interview conducted at the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the center, Dr. Kochman discussed five emerging trends in gastroenterology.

The trends include advances in endoscopic technologies and an expansion of the role of personalized medicine that would allow gastroenterologists to better target medications to individual patients. Office-based physicians will be able to evaluate patient risk for various diseases more easily through the use of stool or blood samples or cheek swabs and, then, steer toward additional tests for those found to be at high risk. Improvements in patient safety also are on the horizon, he said, as new technologies will provide earlier warning signs of failed therapies and potential complications.

Finally, as innovation continues in the area of minimally invasive surgery and transorifice surgery, “we need to look more and more to what we will end up calling organ-preserving surgeries, where we are able to treat just the area of pathology,” he noted. “We will be moving to leaving the patient without lasting scars and remembrances of having to have an organ removed.”

Dr. Kochman disclosed that he serves as a consultant to Boston Scientific and Dark Canyon Labs.

BOSTON – In the next 5 years there is going to be a “huge swing” in gastroenterology to minimally invasive therapies, improved diagnostics, and additional therapeutics and disease management strategies that can be applied on an ambulatory basis and, perhaps, even in the office.

That’s the prediction of Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who is the executive committee chair of the American Gastroenterological Association Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In a video interview conducted at the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the center, Dr. Kochman discussed five emerging trends in gastroenterology.

The trends include advances in endoscopic technologies and an expansion of the role of personalized medicine that would allow gastroenterologists to better target medications to individual patients. Office-based physicians will be able to evaluate patient risk for various diseases more easily through the use of stool or blood samples or cheek swabs and, then, steer toward additional tests for those found to be at high risk. Improvements in patient safety also are on the horizon, he said, as new technologies will provide earlier warning signs of failed therapies and potential complications.

Finally, as innovation continues in the area of minimally invasive surgery and transorifice surgery, “we need to look more and more to what we will end up calling organ-preserving surgeries, where we are able to treat just the area of pathology,” he noted. “We will be moving to leaving the patient without lasting scars and remembrances of having to have an organ removed.”

Dr. Kochman disclosed that he serves as a consultant to Boston Scientific and Dark Canyon Labs.

BOSTON – In the next 5 years there is going to be a “huge swing” in gastroenterology to minimally invasive therapies, improved diagnostics, and additional therapeutics and disease management strategies that can be applied on an ambulatory basis and, perhaps, even in the office.

That’s the prediction of Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who is the executive committee chair of the American Gastroenterological Association Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In a video interview conducted at the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the center, Dr. Kochman discussed five emerging trends in gastroenterology.

The trends include advances in endoscopic technologies and an expansion of the role of personalized medicine that would allow gastroenterologists to better target medications to individual patients. Office-based physicians will be able to evaluate patient risk for various diseases more easily through the use of stool or blood samples or cheek swabs and, then, steer toward additional tests for those found to be at high risk. Improvements in patient safety also are on the horizon, he said, as new technologies will provide earlier warning signs of failed therapies and potential complications.

Finally, as innovation continues in the area of minimally invasive surgery and transorifice surgery, “we need to look more and more to what we will end up calling organ-preserving surgeries, where we are able to treat just the area of pathology,” he noted. “We will be moving to leaving the patient without lasting scars and remembrances of having to have an organ removed.”

Dr. Kochman disclosed that he serves as a consultant to Boston Scientific and Dark Canyon Labs.

BOSTON – Five “revolutionary” forces in medicine are going to impact patients and physicians, two health care consultants say, and the federal government will act either as a brake or an accelerator on those forces.

In a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, Patrick D. Pilch, managing director and national healthcare advisory leader at the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation, New York, and his colleague David B. Friend, MD, MBA, managing director and chief medical officer at the center, discussed these market forces and their potential effects on the practice of medicine.

One such force is the convergence of molecular biology and computer science, which will lead to the creation of new medical devices that use software and will require Food and Drug Administration approval, including devices that can remotely monitor patient compliance with taking medication. Some health care apps also would need FDA approval.

“Increasingly, health care will be mobile,” Dr. Friend continued. “The concept of the right care at the right place at the right time at the right cost is going to increase, and the ability to deliver this in the mobile setting is going to be very powerful.”

A change in who bears financial risk is another important driver. Insurance companies are decreasing their risk, Dr. Friend said, while health care providers and health systems are bearing more financial risk as they increasingly accept bundled payments and value-based payments. Physicians will need to understand and be prepared for this shift in risk, he warned.

Dr. Friend also noted a move toward an integrated supply chain model that will have “profound implications” throughout the delivery process and a movement of care away from the hospital to a nonhospital setting such as home care or skilled nursing facilities.

The summit was sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.

BOSTON – Five “revolutionary” forces in medicine are going to impact patients and physicians, two health care consultants say, and the federal government will act either as a brake or an accelerator on those forces.

In a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, Patrick D. Pilch, managing director and national healthcare advisory leader at the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation, New York, and his colleague David B. Friend, MD, MBA, managing director and chief medical officer at the center, discussed these market forces and their potential effects on the practice of medicine.

One such force is the convergence of molecular biology and computer science, which will lead to the creation of new medical devices that use software and will require Food and Drug Administration approval, including devices that can remotely monitor patient compliance with taking medication. Some health care apps also would need FDA approval.

“Increasingly, health care will be mobile,” Dr. Friend continued. “The concept of the right care at the right place at the right time at the right cost is going to increase, and the ability to deliver this in the mobile setting is going to be very powerful.”

A change in who bears financial risk is another important driver. Insurance companies are decreasing their risk, Dr. Friend said, while health care providers and health systems are bearing more financial risk as they increasingly accept bundled payments and value-based payments. Physicians will need to understand and be prepared for this shift in risk, he warned.

Dr. Friend also noted a move toward an integrated supply chain model that will have “profound implications” throughout the delivery process and a movement of care away from the hospital to a nonhospital setting such as home care or skilled nursing facilities.

The summit was sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.

BOSTON – Five “revolutionary” forces in medicine are going to impact patients and physicians, two health care consultants say, and the federal government will act either as a brake or an accelerator on those forces.

In a video interview conducted during the 2017 AGA Tech Summit, Patrick D. Pilch, managing director and national healthcare advisory leader at the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence and Innovation, New York, and his colleague David B. Friend, MD, MBA, managing director and chief medical officer at the center, discussed these market forces and their potential effects on the practice of medicine.

One such force is the convergence of molecular biology and computer science, which will lead to the creation of new medical devices that use software and will require Food and Drug Administration approval, including devices that can remotely monitor patient compliance with taking medication. Some health care apps also would need FDA approval.

“Increasingly, health care will be mobile,” Dr. Friend continued. “The concept of the right care at the right place at the right time at the right cost is going to increase, and the ability to deliver this in the mobile setting is going to be very powerful.”

A change in who bears financial risk is another important driver. Insurance companies are decreasing their risk, Dr. Friend said, while health care providers and health systems are bearing more financial risk as they increasingly accept bundled payments and value-based payments. Physicians will need to understand and be prepared for this shift in risk, he warned.

Dr. Friend also noted a move toward an integrated supply chain model that will have “profound implications” throughout the delivery process and a movement of care away from the hospital to a nonhospital setting such as home care or skilled nursing facilities.

The summit was sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.