May 27th, 2014
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: May 27th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include mortality trends in patients with diabetes, cardiovascular remodeling in CAD and HF, and more.
April 15th, 2014
Cardiology and the Medicare Data Avalanche
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Harlan Krumholz discusses the Medicare data that was recently released to the public.
January 9th, 2014
Hospital Quality Helps Explain Some Racial Disparities in CABG Outcomes
Larry Husten, PHD
It has long been known that racial disparities exist in health care. A large body of research has found that nonwhite patients have worse outcomes than whites. But it has been difficult to understand the underlying reasons for these disparities. Now a new study offers evidence that, at least in the case of bypass surgery, […]
February 12th, 2013
ACC and STS Break New Ground to Test TAVR for Unapproved Uses
Larry Husten, PHD
In a startling break with tradition, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) will manage and run their own clinical trials testing expanded uses for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The two medical groups have recently been granted an investigational device exemption (IDE) by the FDA for one such […]
January 8th, 2013
Could You Be Accused of Doing Unnecessary PCI?
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
A recent rash of lawsuits and physician suspensions for “unnecessary PCI” have given many interventionalists pause. Rick Lange and David Hillis ponder the implications of these incidents on clinical practice.
January 5th, 2013
Ohio Hospital and Cardiology Group Will Pay $4.4 Million to Settle Charges Over Unnecessary PCIs
Larry Husten, PHD
In 2006, Reed Abelson in the New York Times reported that the PCI rate in Elyria, Ohio, was four times the national average. Now, six-and-a-half years later, she reports that the local hospital, EMH Regional Medical Center, has agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle accusations that it billed Medicare for unnecessary PCIs. And the local cardiology group, North Ohio Heart Center, has agreed […]
October 9th, 2012
PCI Utilization Lower in States with Public Reporting of Outcomes
Larry Husten, PHD
In patients with acute MI, utilization of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is lower in states that publicly report outcomes data, according to a new study published in JAMA. Despite the difference in utilization, however, there was no difference in mortality between reporting and nonreporting states. Karen Joynt and colleagues used Medicare data to analyze PCI utilization and […]
August 30th, 2012
ICD Investigation: DOJ Sends Resolution Model to Hospitals
Larry Husten, PHD
Hospitals across the country received emails from the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday containing a proposed “Resolution Model” that will allow the hospitals to begin to settle the long-standing and much-feared DOJ investigation into improper Medicare billing for ICDs. The action appears to confirm an article, published earlier in August in Report on Medicare Compliance, that summarized the […]
June 11th, 2012
The Changing Face of Mitral Valve Surgery
John A. Dodson, MD
A new study of mortality and other trends among Medicare patients who undergo mitral valve surgery may influence whom you choose to refer for this type of procedure.
May 7th, 2012
Politics and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
Larry Husten, PHD
Larry Husten takes to task a conservative activist who is trying to inject politics where it’s neither needed nor wanted.
NEJM Journal Watch — Recent Cardiology Articles- Does Lowering High Childhood Lipid Levels Prevent Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Adulthood?
- Self-Expanding Supraannular Valve vs. Balloon-Expandable Valve in TAVR for Small Aortic Annulus
- A New TAVR Prosthesis for Aortic Regurgitation Shows Promise
- Aprocitentan, a Newly Approved Drug for Resistant Hypertension
- Preventive PCI of Vulnerable Plaques Linked to Fewer Cardiac Events