GI Path

[macrocyte]

What do you guys think about GI path? Is this a good fellowship if you want to be marketable for private practice? Why is it not ACGME approved and does this make it less desirable. I notice there are not that many programs offering this fellowship. Is it competative to get a spot?

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[Zoloft]

What do you guys think about GI path? Is this a good fellowship if you want to be marketable for private practice? Why is it not ACGME approved and does this make it less desirable. I notice there are not that many programs offering this fellowship. Is it competative to get a spot?

I think GI path is going to be a lucrative field in the near future, due to the increase in GI endoscopy. I don't know why its not a boarded subspecialty, but I don't think that matters much. There is a trend of private groups looking for GI pathologists to handle this large biopsy volume (mainly because many of the GI conditions are chronic and you need to be extra careful when attaching such a chronic condition to a patient's record). I don't know why there aren't more GI fellowships out there, but the field can only get bigger. I would say that getting a GI fellowship spot is pretty competitive, but not quite as competitive as dermpath.

 

[Pingu]

Plus it's like 'tubular adenoma, hyperplastic polyp, mild chronic gastritis, another tubular adenoma, ooh a crypt abscess, ooh ooh squiggly h. pylori, another hyperplastic polyp, esophagitis, another tubular adenoma, ooh collagenous colitis, and so on and so forth'

And they bill as 88305 for like 3 seconds of looking.

 

[deschutes]

88305?

 

[Pingu]

Those are our charge codes, a full on cancer case gets a 88309, a uterus or other organ gets a 88307, and the gi biopsies get a 88305 which i think pays pretty well for the very small amount of work you typically have to do on them. So you can turn around quite a few GI cases in the span of time it takes for you to look at one cancer case. More cases equals mas dinero.

 

[yaah]

It's a good fellowship if you like GI path and are interested in it. It is not a good fellowship if you simply want a lucrative fellowship. Yes, a lot of GI path is adenomas and negative surveillance biopsies, but there are lots of things where an expert opinion makes a difference.

 

[LADoc00]

It's a good fellowship if you like GI path and are interested in it. It is not a good fellowship if you simply want a lucrative fellowship. Yes, a lot of GI path is adenomas and negative surveillance biopsies, but there are lots of things where an expert opinion makes a difference.

I think GI is currently one of the most marketable fellowships out there.
-My 2 cents.