Q&A: Digestive Health Physicians Association names first female president, board chair
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The Digestive Health Physicians Association has named Latha Alaparthi, MD, FACG, AGAF, its first female president and chair of the board of directors. She previously served as the organization’s vice president.
Alaparthi, who directs committee operations at PACT Gastroenterology Center in Hamden, Connecticut, will work with the Digestive Health Physicians Association (DHPA) executive committee to advance the organization’s health policy efforts of promoting and preserving financially accessible care in the independent gastroenterological medical practice setting.
The association currently supports 105 GI practices in 39 states, representing nearly 2,500 physicians.
“Dr. Alaparthi is the perfect person to continue DHPA’s growth and advocacy, and I look forward to working with her to expand our efforts in strengthening the GI pipeline and our focus on health equity,” James Weber, MD, immediate past-president of DHPA, said in a press release.
Healio spoke with Alaparthi about DHPA’s mission, being named the first female president and her goals for the association in years ahead.
Healio: What is the DHPA and its main mission?
Alaparthi: DHPA is the only state or national advocacy organization focused exclusively on the challenges and opportunities facing independent GI physician practices and the patients we serve.
Since 2014, DHPA has been successfully advocating for policies that promote and protect the high quality, cost-efficient care we provide to patients in the independent GI practice setting.
Independent physicians need to be knowledgeable about the business, technology and advocacy components of health care. DHPA also provides a forum for private practice leaders to learn from each other and discuss ways to navigate issues that impact our ability to remain independent.
Healio: How do you feel being named the first female president and chair of the board of directors?
Alaparthi: I am very excited to build upon the work of the DHPA’s previous four presidents, and I look forward to working with my dedicated colleagues on the DHPA executive committee to expand on our commitment to supporting independent GI and our patients.
Over the past two years, we have given particular focus to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion and strengthening the GI pipeline. A big part of these efforts is aimed at increasing the number of physicians from underrepresented communities and women in gastroenterology.
But increasing representation is not enough — we also need to provide opportunities for leadership positions, and we need to focus on providing support to women and physicians of color who are in positions of leadership.
Healio: What was your role at DHPA before being named president?
Alaparthi: As a woman physician and gastroenterologist, there have been many times that I have been the only woman in the room, including at some of the earliest DHPA meetings. That being said, DHPA has always been very committed to the representation of, and support for, women in leadership positions.
I have been on the board of directors since 2016 and was named a member of the DHPA executive committee in 2018, serving as chair of the communications committee. I helped lead our initiatives to provide patients and primary care providers with information about available colorectal cancer screening options and how colonoscopy is the only screening that detects and prevents colon cancer.
In 2020, I was named vice president of DHPA and worked with James Weber and our colleagues on the executive committee to help independent GI practices navigate the legislative and regulatory landscape during the COVID-19 public health emergency to ensure that private practices continued receiving support from the federal government as we cared for patients during the pandemic. I have also had the pleasure of working with Aja McCutchen, MD, of Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates, to help expand our efforts to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in gastroenterology.
Healio: What your goals for DHPA going forward?
Alaparthi: Early on, DHPA was solely focused on advocacy at the federal level, but over the past several years, we have been implementing initiatives aimed at strengthening independent GI from different angles.
Projections show that there will be a significant shortage of gastroenterologists by 2025. We know that available positions are increasing, and they are vastly outpacing GI applicants and GI programs. Many practices are having trouble recruiting new physicians, and this is especially hard for practices that are not in major cities.
Our pipeline efforts need to start earlier, whether it is getting high school students to consider a career in medicine or exposing more college students to gastroenterology specifically.
Over the next two years I would also like to focus on building up the next generation of independent GI practice leaders. As a group, we are aging in terms of clinicians, but also in terms of leaders who understand the business and practice management aspects of independent gastroenterology. We need to make sure that resources are available to help support younger physicians who want a career in private practice — to provide education around business, marketing, health policy and all the other components of running an independent practice.
As we think of our future leaders, we also need to consider how our practices and physicians are integrating innovative technologies and how medicine will be practiced in the future. New technologies can augment the patient-physician relationship and some innovations seek to disrupt that relationship.
We need to find ways to have a voice in how innovations progress to ensure that the focus is on strengthening the patient-physician relationship, improving care and improving outcomes.
Healio: What should our readers know about you?
Alaparthi: I decided to become a physician at a very young age. Despite there being no role models in my own family or formal guidance on the track to becoming a doctor, the education system in India, where I grew up, allowed for the opportunity. I was fortunate, and I have a responsibility to support efforts that provide the same opportunities I was given and to help develop more pathways for future physicians.
I am equally passionate about increased support for women in GI practices and in leadership roles. While I am pleased and excited about the emphasis on the topic of equity in recent years, I hope to see an increase in more deliberate processes and programs that support representation and growth.
During my presidency at DHPA, our organization will work to provide information and resources to our member groups who are working to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in their practices.
Collapse
Press Release
Healio Interviews
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts