American Medical Association (AMA)

The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. The AMA mission is to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health. The association represents physicians with a unified voice in courts and legislative bodies across the nation, removing obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading efforts to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises, and driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in healthcare.

AMA says Change Healthcare breach is crippling independent practices
A survey of physicians by the American Medical Association reveals that many practices are still losing revenue and struggling to make payroll as a result of the Change Healthcare hack.
‘Concerning’ data connect industry payments to cardiologists with medical device use
U.S. physicians often receive payments from medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies. New research in JAMA found a connection between receiving such payments and using specific devices—should the industry be concerned?
Confirmed: AFib ablation more beneficial for patients with HFrEF than those with HFpEF
Researchers explored data from nearly 2,500 AFib ablation patients, sharing their findings in JAMA Cardiology.
Donor hearts more likely to be accepted when the transplant candidate is female or white
"This finding suggests racial and gender bias as a potential contributor to the organ acceptance decision-making process," researchers wrote in JAMA.
Cardiologists received $1.3B in industry payments over 10-year period, No. 3 among all healthcare specialties
Only orthopedic surgeons and neurologists/psychiatrists received more industry payments from 2013 to 2022 than cardiologists. Also, the two prescription medications associated with the most physician payments were a blood thinner and an anticoagulant.

Burnout among physicians reaches new high

Burnout is a growing problem across the healthcare industry, and physicians are feeling symptoms worse than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic stretches on.

September 15, 2022

Christine Albert, MD, MPH, cardiology chair for the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Rethinking arrhythmias: Women may face a higher AFib risk than men

New research, published in JAMA Cardiology, challenges the common belief that AFib is more likely to develop among men than women. The key problem, it seems, is that prior research teams did not understand the significance of certain risk factors.

August 31, 2022

Treating elderly atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients—even those who are traditionally ineligible for direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs)—with a very low dose of edoxaban is associated with improved outcomes, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open.

Very low doses of edoxaban are safe and effective for frail, elderly AFib patients

Elderly patients are often not eligible for oral anticoagulant therapy due to the risk of bleeding events or other adverse outcomes. A very low dose of edoxaban, however, appears to be a safe treatment option, even for especially frail patients.

August 26, 2022

Cardiologists, radiologists join American Medical Association to speak out against ACA lawsuit

Yet another lawsuit is taking aim at the Affordable Care Act, and 61 U.S. medical organizations have joined forces to speak out.

July 29, 2022

House votes to extend telehealth benefits

The bill, Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID–19 Act of 2022, extends telehealth flexibilities under Medicare that were initially authorized during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19.

July 28, 2022

Patient privacy concerns are rising

92% of patients believe privacy is a right and their health data should not be available for purchase by corporations or other individuals.

July 25, 2022

Subclinical leaflet thrombosis after TAVR imaged by CT. The areas of clot attached to the valve leaflets appear dark. Image courtesy of Cahill et al. and JAMA Cardiology.

Subclinical leaflet thrombosis after TAVR: What we know, and still need to learn, about a challenging complication

Treating subclinical leaflet thrombosis after TAVR has been an ongoing challenge for structural heart clinicians, but recent research has gone a long way toward improving our understanding of this important topic.

July 20, 2022

Proposed Medicare Physician Free Schedule would decrease cardiology payments, ACC calls it ‘the continuation of a troubling trend’

CMS also announced that the penalty phase of its Appropriate Use Criteria Program has been delayed yet again.

July 11, 2022

American Medical Association (AMA)

AMA says Change Healthcare breach is crippling independent practices

‘Concerning’ data connect industry payments to cardiologists with medical device use

Confirmed: AFib ablation more beneficial for patients with HFrEF than those with HFpEF

Donor hearts more likely to be accepted when the transplant candidate is female or white

Cardiologists received $1.3B in industry payments over 10-year period, No. 3 among all healthcare specialties