Care Delivery

This channel includes news on cardiovascular care delivery, including how patients are diagnosed and treated, cardiac care guidelines, policies or legislation impacting patient care, device recalls that may impact patient care, and cardiology practice management.

Portal messaging proves ‘an expansion of between-visit care rather than a substitute for in-person care’
Any lingering fears about patients using online portals to get bonus medical attention for free should be largely quieted, albeit not completely silenced, by a new study conducted at New York University.
Cardiology groups strongly oppose expansion of Medicare AI prior authorization model
ASE, ASNC and SCAI have come out against a WiSER model using AI for traditional Medicare prior authorizations.
Hospitals serving Medicaid patients prepare to take proposed payment caps on the chin
New federal limits on state-directed payments are set to cut Medicaid funding in most states. Hospitals are expected to bear the brunt since they account for the majority—84%, around $78B a year—of state-directed healthcare spends.
Nationwide nursing-home picture comes into focus with new analysis
Either the stakeholders issuing the warnings overstated the risk of widespread closings—or COVID-era emergency funds succeeded in heading off a calamity of national proportions. Either way, patient access has taken a hit here and there.
Cardiologists and surgeons share early feedback after CMS proposed sweeping TAVR changes
Major TAVR policy changes appear to be on the way—should clinicians be excited or concerned? Leading U.S. medical societies are sharing their early reactions.

Early survival data favor valve-in-valve TAVR over redo SAVR—long-term data flip the script

Valve-in-valve TAVR outperforms redo SAVR for the first six months after treatment, according to a new meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Cardiology. Then, however, things begin to shift.

House passes ‘landmark’ bill to juice healthcare price transparency

Bipartisan legislation intended to lower healthcare costs by lifting price transparency has made it through the U.S. House of Representatives.

selfie taking male nurse arrested sentenced

Ghoulish selfie-taking nurse sentenced after victimizing patients, hospital

At a time when patient assaults against nurses are reportedly on the rise, cases that invert the equation only reinforce the public’s perception that hospitals are chaotic places.

deep-penetrating acoustic volumetric printing 3D printing

New 3D-printing technique shows early potential to help heart patients

“We can reach tissues, bones and organs with high spatial precision that haven’t been reachable with light-based printing methods," one researcher explained.

FDA announces recall of Cardiohelp ECMO emergency drives due to serious risks

If the emergency drive is needed during treatment, it could fail to work, putting patients at risk of ischemia, hypoxia, stroke or death.

Dapagliflozin improves symptoms in some, but not all, heart failure patients

The popular SGLT2 inhibitor, sold under the brand name Farxiga, is approved by the FDA to treat heart failure, type 2 diabetes and CKD. Recent data on its ability to affect the symptoms of heart failure patients have been inconsistent.

Credit forecast: Hospitals will recover only slowly from lingering ‘labor-demic’

In its annual outlook report released this week, Fitch Ratings says the coming calendar year will probably strike much of the sector as “another make or break” period.

Industry Watcher’s Digest

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

Care Delivery

Portal messaging proves ‘an expansion of between-visit care rather than a substitute for in-person care’

Cardiology groups strongly oppose expansion of Medicare AI prior authorization model

Hospitals serving Medicaid patients prepare to take proposed payment caps on the chin

Nationwide nursing-home picture comes into focus with new analysis

Cardiologists and surgeons share early feedback after CMS proposed sweeping TAVR changes