Gastroenterology doctors make big bucks too. If they belong to a group they own the same day operation facility where they do the endo's.
That's becoming a thing of the past.
Most folks prefer to go to local, academic institutions (big name hospitals) for their same-day procedures, as they feel safer in case shit hits the fan (patient de-sats or starts having arrhythmia's with no resolvement - thereby needing to be transferred to an ICU) mid-stream an EGD or colonoscopy.
It is not very common for GI groups to own their own centers. That practice must have started in a hospital somewhere in order for those docs to have garnered enough of a patient load individually, to then branch out on their own and establish their own private practice with a center for same-day procedures.
The overhead costs alone of that are insane.
Every patient gets a upper and lower endo.
That's a huge scam. A patient comes in for non-resolving acid reflux that has not responded to medications, diet modifications and lifestyle changes and then the gastroenterologist recommends an EGD in order to assess for possible gastric polyps or even esophageal lining that is starting to resemble barrett's esophagus (precancerous esophageal tissue lining that resembles the lining of the stomach due to perpetual eroding by gastric acid) AND guess what the GI doctor then tells their patient right before they go down (sedated) for the procedure, "Listen, it might be a good idea to just go ahead and do a double-dip (both upper-egd & lower-colonoscopy) in order to get a full picture due to your age and unresolving symptoms. The patient immediately agrees as it is their doctor recommending it. Bada-bing, bada-boom you have a double-dip and insurance reimburses for both. Scam! That is one practice I don't agree with. While auditing a few hospitals in NYC, we cracked down on non-essential tests and practices that sought out to drain the resources a patient had on hand.
When I had stomach problems the tests alone were close to 20K.
That was way overpriced for basic tests. If it was simply bloodwork, you got duped somehow. If it involved MRI's, CAT scan, capsule endoscopies, various colonoscopies & EGD's, then maybe it would resonate as a fair amount, but 20K for basic tests sounds preposterous.
Lovingly yours,
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