Hospitals are ramping up investment in gastroenterology to meet rising demand, expand outpatient services and boost revenue in a shifting care landscape.
GI conditions cost the U.S. about $120 billion annually and contribute to more than 250,000 deaths each year, according to a study led by researchers at Chapel Hill-based UNC School of Medicine and published in Gastroenterology.
As more procedures shift to outpatient settings, GI ambulatory surgery centers have grown into a $6.2 billion market projected to expand nearly 7% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research.
“The demand for endoscopic services nationwide has reached an all-time high,” Neal Kaushal, MD, a gastroenterologist in Sonora, Calif., told Becker’s in January. He cited revised screening guidelines and post-COVID backlogs as major drivers pushing elective procedures into outpatient settings.
Health systems are responding by building specialized GI hubs that streamline care and increase accessibility. For patients, these centers offer more convenient, targeted services with fewer hospital visits. For providers, they support value-based models, chronic disease management and long-term financial growth.
Site-neutral payment reform could further shift case volumes. Medicare currently reimburses ASCs at about 50% of what hospital outpatient departments receive for the same services. Proposed policy changes could eliminate that gap, increasing financial incentives to move more procedures to outpatient GI centers.
Some recent examples attesting to GI’s growing prominence include Northwell Health’s new $5.3 million, 27,000-square-foot digestive health center in Uniondale, N.Y., and UMass Chan Medical School’s adoption of Boston Scientific’s WallFlex Biliary PLUS RX stent for treating benign strictures.
