Author: Sophie Eydis

Point-of-care ultrasound devices can shorten hospital stays and reduce costs for patients admitted with shortness of breath, according to a Sept. 5 study in JAMA Network Open. In a 200-patient trial, ultrasound-guided diagnoses reduced average length of stay by 3.6…

Lucas Buchanan, DO, has joined Maury Regional Medical Group Mid-South Gastroenterology in Columbia, Tenn. Dr. Buchanan specializes in diagnosing and treating digestive disorders and performing procedures such as colonoscopy, upper endoscopy and sigmoidoscopy.  He joins a team of gastroenterology specialists…

Cardiologists at UAB St. Vincent’s, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System, have become the first in the Greater Birmingham area to use sound wave technology to treat severely calcified peripheral artery disease, according to a Sept.…

Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas, has added a 512-slice CT scanner to enhance early detection, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, according to a Sept. 5 system news release.  The next-generation system provides high-resolution cardiac images in seconds…

Turnover among anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists is worsening staffing shortages and straining surgical access. On-call requirements are among the most important factors driving professionals out of the field. 1. Call duty is nearly universal 91% of anesthesiologists said…

Gastroenterology reimbursement faces new headwinds, with payer and federal policy shifts that could cut pay for gastroenterologists and GI ASCs in 2025 and beyond. The changes span Medicare, commercial plans and state-level proposals, targeting conversion-factor cuts, site-neutral reform, bundled payments…

Hospitals are ramping up investment in orthopedic ambulatory surgery centers to capture growing demand for musculoskeletal care, lower costs and expand their footprint in outpatient surgery. Orthopedic procedures — including joint replacements, spine surgeries and sports medicine cases — are…

The share of patients starting GLP-1 weight-loss drugs after bariatric surgery has climbed sharply in recent years, according to a large retrospective cohort study published Aug.27 in JAMA Surgery. Among more than 113,000 adults who underwent bariatric surgery, 14% initiated…

Burlington, Vt.-based University of Vermont Medical Center has adopted a new approach to delivering anesthesia expected to reduce nitrous oxide purchases by 88% and save more than $10,000 each year, according to a Sept. 3 WCAX report.  The update will…

A ransomware group known as Sinobi has claimed responsibility for the Aug. 20 hack of Pittsburgh Gastroenterology Associates . The group said it accessed the organization’s internal systems and obtained sensitive patient data, according to a Sept. 3 report by…