ACG-FDA Joint Fellowship: One Week Left to Apply!

Current first and second-year fellows are invited to submit their application for a one-month rotation at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sponsored by ACG. Third-year fellows who are taking a 4th year of advanced fellowship may apply as well.

Awardees will have the opportunity to participate in daily FDA activities and will gain firsthand knowledge of the drug and device approval process. The College will provide a stipend for travel and daily living expenses.

Eligible applicants must complete an online application which must include two recommendations: one from the fellow's current Program Director and one from a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG).

All applications must be submitted to ACG and will be reviewed by the ACG FDA Related Matters Committee along with staff at the FDA. The candidate will be chosen and notified of acceptance by November 2019.

The application deadline is Friday, September 27, 2019.

For complete details regarding the FDA-ACG Fellowship Program, click HERE.

New FDA Related Matters Committee Manuscript: Accessing FDA Resources in Clinical Practice – A Primer for the Practicing Gastroenterologist

From Eric D. Shah, MD (pictured), Dawn B. Beaulieu, MD, Bruce Yacyshyn, MD, FACG, and the FDA Related Matters Committee

The inner workings of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can seem elusive from the realities of the day-to-day clinical practice. For the FDA to accomplish its mission, they have exclusive access to comprehensive and historical clinical trial data and a wealth of outcomes data. These data include the largest claims dataset covering over 227 million Americans, including patient-level data. Staying up-to-date with FDA communications is important as gastroenterologists and their patients look for guidance in areas of rapid innovation such as biosimilars, fecal microbiota for transplantation, and endoscopic bariatric treatments.

Click here for a summary of useful datasets and resources published on the FDA website which can enable gastroenterologists to stay current with regulatory guidance and access valuable FDA resources.

New ACG Magazine Article: Conquering the Prior Authorization Maze

A collaboration between physicians and pharmacists offer strategies to successfully navigate the challenges of prior authorization.

Check out the article here.

Want More Guidance on Managing Prior Authorization?

Learn how to get your patients the medication you prescribed without unnecessary steps! Attend the ACG Annual Meeting and register for the "Roadmap for a Successful Community or Academic GI Practice" course. You will learn invaluable tips and tricks on approaches to obtaining pre-authorizations and appealing denials for pharmaceutical therapies.

ACG Advocacy at the Federal and State Levels

Remember to contact your ACG Governor on important state and local issues impacting you and your practice.

The ACG Board of Governors is one of the most unique aspects of the American College of Gastroenterology. Governors are ACG Fellows that are elected from the membership of a particular state or region. There are currently 77 Governors across seven different regions in the U.S. and abroad. The Board of Governors acts as a two-way conduit between College leadership and the membership at-large. This helps the College make certain it is meeting the evolving needs of the membership.

One Week Left to Tell CMS NO Regarding Additional Documentation Requirements

CMS recently released the CY 2020 proposed regulation on the Medicare physician fee schedule payment changes. In this rule, CMS seeks comment on whether ACG members should be required to notify patients of the cost-sharing implications prior to performing a lonoscopy, and then document these notifications in the medical record. CMS also seeks comment on how to monitor and audit compliance. ACG and the GI societies oppose this proposal. ACG members would be subject to additional audit and compliance requirements due to a problem that CMS and Congress can easily resolve.

ACG, AGA, and ASGE recently met with CMS officials to discuss CMS’ recent proposal on whether gastroenterologists should be required to educate patients on the Medicare cost-sharing quirk with patients prior to performing a screening colonoscopy.

What is the Practice Management toolbox?

Gastroenterologists in private practice find themselves working in a time of unprecedented transformation. Pressures are high as they make important management decisions that profoundly affect their business future, their private lives, and their ability to provide care to patients. The ACG Practice Management Committee has a mission to bring practicing colleagues together to explore solutions to overcome management challenges, to improve operations, enhance productivity, and support physician leadership. It was in this spirit that the Practice Management Toolbox was created.

The Toolbox is a series of short articles, written by practicing gastroenterologists, that provide members with easily accessible information to improve their practices. Each article covers an issue important to private practice gastroenterologists and physician-lead clinical practices. They include a brief introduction, a topic overview, specific suggestions, helpful examples and a list of resources or references. Each month a new edition of the Toolbox will be released and will then remain available here along with all previous editions. The Practice Management Committee is confident this series will a provide valuable resource for members striving to optimize their practices.