Gastroparesis is more common than many realize, yet the path to diagnosis remains frustratingly slow. Patients often experience months—sometimes years—of recurrent nausea, vomiting, early satiety, and bloating before receiving a definitive diagnosis. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, delayed gastric emptying affects millions of Americans, yet many cases go undiagnosed or are significantly delayed.

What you’ll learn in this article:

Common reasons for diagnostic delays in gastroparesis
Practical solutions to speed up diagnosis
How GEBT removes traditional testing barriers
Steps to integrate modern diagnostic tools into your practice

Why does diagnosis take so long? The answer isn’t always clinical complexity—it’s often system-level barriers, misconceptions about testing, or simply lack of awareness that better options exist.

Here are the five most common reasons physicians delay diagnosing gastroparesis—and what you can do to address them now.

Misattributing Symptoms to Anxiety or IBS

Nausea, bloating, early satiety, and abdominal discomfort are nonspecific symptoms. They overlap with functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, and even anxiety-related GI complaints. As a result, many patients are reassured, treated empirically for IBS, or referred for mental health support—without ever receiving objective testing for delayed gastric emptying.

The Challenge: Gastroparesis is often diagnosed late or missed altogether because symptoms don’t immediately suggest a motility disorder.

The Solution: Keep delayed gastric emptying in your differential diagnosis earlier in the evaluation process—especially for patients with diabetes, post-surgical history, or chronic unexplained nausea. A simple, objective test can rule gastroparesis in or out without invasive procedures.

When patients describe persistent symptoms that don’t respond to conventional treatment, consider ordering a gastric emptying study sooner rather than later. Learn more about recognizing gastroparesis symptoms and how early testing can change the care pathway.

See how the GEBT fits into earlier workups → Learn about GEBT

Lack of Access to Nuclear Medicine Facilities

Not every community has a nuclear medicine lab. For rural providers, community hospitals, or practices without onsite imaging, ordering a gastric emptying scintigraphy study means referring patients to a facility that may be hours away—with wait times stretching weeks or months.

The Challenge: Limited access to scintigraphy creates diagnostic bottlenecks. Patients may delay or decline testing altogether due to travel burden, cost, or time constraints.

The Solution: Use a telehealth-enabled, at-home test to bypass infrastructure limitations. The Gastric Emptying Breath Test (GEBT) requires no imaging equipment, no radiation, and no in-facility visit. Patients complete the test at home with remote clinical support, and results are returned in approximately 3 business days.

Highlight: GEBT can be administered anywhere—urban, rural, or underserved areas—with no need for specialized facilities.

This removes geography as a barrier and puts diagnostic clarity within reach for every patient, regardless of location.

Discover how GEBT works → Using the GEBT

Concern Over Test Complexity or Time Burden

Traditional gastric emptying scintigraphy requires patients to spend four hours in a nuclear medicine facility. They consume a radioactive meal, then undergo periodic imaging as the meal empties from the stomach. For patients with severe nausea, spending hours in a clinical setting can feel overwhelming—and for busy practices, coordinating these referrals adds administrative friction.

The Challenge: The perception that gastric emptying studies are time-intensive and uncomfortable discourages both providers and patients from pursuing testing.

The Solution: GEBT is a complete 4-hour test—but patients complete it at home. There’s no in-clinic time, no imaging appointments, and no radiation exposure. Patients eat a standardized test meal, collect breath samples at designated intervals, and ship the samples back to Cairn’s CLIA-certified lab for analysis.

What’s in the kit?

Pre-measured test meal (Spirulina, egg, saltines)
Breath collection tubes
Step-by-step instructions
Prepaid return shipping

Our telehealth model provides real-time support during the test, ensuring patients feel confident and supported throughout the process.

Download the Physician Workflow Guide to see how easy integration can be → Contact us for resources

Uncertainty Around Reimbursement

One of the most common hesitations providers express is concern about billing: Will insurance cover this? Will there be prior authorization delays? Will my patients face unexpected out-of-pocket costs?

The Challenge: Fear of denied claims or unclear billing responsibility can prevent providers from ordering tests—even when clinically indicated.

The Solution: GEBT is covered by Medicare and is seeing growing adoption among commercial insurers. Cairn Diagnostics manages billing and appeals on behalf of your practice to help reduce administrative work. In many cases, no prior authorization is required, and Cairn provides clear communication to patients regarding their expected coverage and any potential costs.

No prior authorizations. No out-of-pocket surprises for patients. Our team works directly with payers to ensure smooth claims processing, and we provide transparent communication with patients about coverage.

The American College of Gastroenterology recommends validated gastric emptying tests for accurate diagnosis—and GEBT meets that standard while simplifying the financial side of testing.

View our billing support resources or contact our team to learn more about reimbursement → Reach out here

Lack of Awareness of Alternatives to Scintigraphy

Many providers simply aren’t aware that an FDA-cleared breath test for gastroparesis exists. Scintigraphy has been the standard for decades, and clinical inertia—combined with limited education about newer options—means alternatives remain underutilized.

The Challenge: If providers don’t know about GEBT, they can’t offer it to patients who might benefit.

The Solution: Education and awareness. GEBT is FDA-approved, validated against 4-hour scintigraphy, and recommended in clinical guidelines. It’s backed by rigorous clinical data and processed in a CLIA-certified laboratory to ensure consistent, trusted results.

Clinical trust markers:

FDA-cleared
CLIA-certified lab testing
Guideline-recommended by the American College of Gastroenterology
Validated against nuclear medicine gastric emptying studies

GEBT isn’t experimental—it’s an established, evidence-based tool that expands access and reduces patient burden without compromising accuracy.

Explore the evidence → View validation studies and clinical resources

A Better Way Forward

Delayed diagnosis leads to prolonged suffering, unnecessary interventions, and frustrated patients who feel unheard. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Modern tools like GEBT reduce barriers for patients and streamline workflows for providers. At Cairn Diagnostics, we’re here to support integration—from logistics and telehealth coordination to result interpretation and billing support.

Whether you’re in a major medical center or a rural clinic, whether your patients can travel easily or need testing brought to them—GEBT offers a reliable, accessible, and patient-friendly path to diagnosis.

Ready to Offer GEBT?

If you’re looking to modernize your diagnostic approach, reduce patient burden, and expand access to accurate gastroparesis testing, we’d love to connect.

Get started here: