Our staff will present nearly 50 different topics at Digestive Disease Week this year. Here’s a snapshot:
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This year’s conference also is expected to reveal several key trends of importance to your GI practice. We asked John Vargo, MD, MPH, Chair of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cleveland Clinic, for what he’ll be tuned in to learn more about later this month. Here’s what he had to say:
One of the hottest topics on the agenda, Dr. Vargo says, is optimizing the performance of colonoscopy quality and adenoma detection.
“The data has shown us that identifying and removing precancerous polyps directly influences colon cancer mortality,” he says. “It’s incumbent on any practitioner to ensure their technique, patient preparation and technology are optimized to detect and remove precancerous polyps.”
Another area of high interest this year, Dr. Vargo says, is the renaissance of therapy for hepatitis C, with effective treatments leading to high cure rates.
“At this point, we have multiple medications available,” he notes. “The key issues for us going forward are how we determine which regimen is optimal for patients in terms of response, as well as the societal burden of cost.”
“Using a standardized approach to the evaluation of our fellows’ endoscopic skills across the country is a necessity to ensure that we provide the best care for our patients,” Dr. Vargo says.
A different set of challenges is present for established clinicians, who as a group possess varying skill sets and use different procedures in detection and treatment. For them, incremental advances to a well-established skill set may take little training, he says, or it could require they learn new, complex procedures, such as endoscopic submucosal dissection.
“This has a very steep learning curve and the clinician needs an immersive training environment, given the complicated nature of the procedure,” Dr. Vargo explains. “So the challenge is how do we embark on teaching established practitioners a new procedure, and how do we determine standards and outcomes.”
Clinicians also now find themselves in an era of unprecedented transparency. They are paid on population basis and the quality of their procedures.
Says Dr. Vargo: “We all need to have the same quality metrics. They provide important benchmarks for third-quality payors, determine performance within a group, and consumers will ultimately benefit because they will be doing comparative shopping.”
Visit us at Booth #3227 to meet our staff and learn more about our program. Follow Dr. Vargo on Twitter @JohnVargoMD and live-tweet #DDW15 with Cleveland Clinic physicians.
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