24th Annual Baylor College of Medicine GI and Liver Course: Innovations and Advances For Your Practice

Needs Statement

Updating practicing physicians and other health professionals in both the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal and liver diseases/conditions is essential to providing quality care leading to improved patient outcomes. This activity is designed to increase knowledge, improve competence, and enhance performance of the physician learners in practice to ultimately better patient care and outcomes in gastroenterology.

Educational Objectives

At the conclusion of the conference, participants should be able to:

• Outline new drugs and treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including biologics, biomarkers, management during pregnancy, and addressing treatment failures.
• Review advances in managing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic constipation, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), MASLD/MASH, opioid use disorder, and other gastrointestinal conditions.
• Highlight procedural innovations, such as intestinal ultrasound for IBD, computer-aided colonoscopy, PEG tube placement, endoscopic submucosal dissection, Barrett’s ablation, cold EMR, and luminal stricture dilations.
• Summarize strategies for diagnosing and managing colorectal cancer, including endoscopic ultrasound and non-invasive diagnostics like the Cologuard/FIT DNA test.
• Recognize and appropriately manage opioid misuse in patients with gastrointestinal diseases while navigating ethical challenges and barriers to care.

Target Audience

Competencies

• Employ Evidence-Based Practice
• Medical Knowledge
• Patient Care and Procedural Skills
• Practice-Based Learning and Improvement
• Professionalism
• Provide Patient-Centered Care
• Roles/Responsibilities
• Teams and Teamwork
• Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice
• Work in Interdisciplinary Teams

Accreditation/Credit Designation

Physician 
Baylor College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

Baylor College of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 11.00 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. 

Ethics
The presentation, Managing Pain and Opioid Misuse Disorder for the gastroenterologist – ethical challenges and alternative to “just talk to your PCP”, has been designated by Baylor College of Medicine for 1.00 credit of education in medical ethics and/or professional responsibility.

ABIM MOC Points 
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 11.00 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

Nurse 
Texas Children’s Hospital is accredited with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. This continuing nursing education activity awards up to 11.00 contact hours.

Disclosure Policy

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. BCM is committed to sponsoring CE activities that are scientifically based, accurate, current, and objectively presented.

In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, BCM has implemented a mechanism requiring everyone in a position to control the content of an educational activity (i.e., directors, planning committee members, faculty) to disclose any relevant financial relationships with commercial interests (drug/device companies) and manage/resolve any conflicts of interest prior to the activity. Individuals must disclose to participants the existence or non-existence of financial relationships at the time of the activity or within 24 months prior.

In addition, BCM has requested activity faculty/presenters to disclose to participants any unlabeled use or investigational use of pharmaceutical/device products; to use scientific or generic names (not trade names) in referring to products; and, if necessary to use a trade name, to use the names of similar products or those within a class. Faculty/presenters have also been requested to adhere to the ACCME's validation of clinical content statements.

BCM does not view the existence of financial relationships with commercial interests as implying bias or decreasing the value of a presentation. It is up to participants to determine whether the relationships influence the activity faculty with regard to exposition or conclusions. If at any time during this activity you feel that there has been commercial/promotional bias, notify the Activity Director or Activity Coordinator. Please answer the questions about balance and objectivity in the activity evaluation candidly.

All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.