Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C48quhaLgwD/ Health insurance corporations are preventing patients from receiving the latest and most effective treatments for IBD, Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.  Over 80% of US health insurance companies refuse to authorize the most contemporary therapy for inflammatory bowel disease as initial therapy.  This the conclusion of a review by gastroenterologists at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. Over 90% of companies insist that any given patient first fail one of the decades-old therapeutic regimens for IBD before prescribing modern therapy.   Only after failing to respond to salicylates, steroids, or immunosuppressive drugs, are patients permitted to employ cutting edge biologics including anti-tumor necrosis factors and adhesion molecule antagonists. Studies have shown that the early use of these effective and contemporary approaches leads to enhanced bowel healing preventing hospitalizations, surgical procedures, and irreversible disease.  Of the