The healthcare industry is always looking for ways to improve patient outcomes. One possible avenue is grading physicians using outcomes data. In a recent viewpoint, the writers argued that it is cardiologists duty to make these data known to patients, especially during referrals, while others countered that referrals should be based on patient history and surgeon experience.

After a drawn out eight-plus hours, the FDAs Circulatory Systems Devices Panel gave a nod of approval to Edwards Lifesciences Sapien heart valve system for the indication to treat patients with severe, systematic aortic stenosis who are at a high risk for surgery. Now, Edwards transcatheter aortic heart valve may soon have two indications: for aortic stenosis patients who are both inoperable and at high risk for surgery.

Administrators may want to think twice before reducing nursing staff if they care about patient safety in their cardiovascular operating rooms. Circulating nurses prevented or corrected on average 11.11 medical errorseither potentially harmful incidents or incidents they stopped before harm was donerelated to cardiac surgical procedures, according to a recently published study.

The FDAs Circulatory Systems Devices Panel is scheduled to meet June 13 to discuss the safety and efficacy of Edwards Lifesciences' Sapien Heart Valve System. In preparation for the meeting, the FDA has posed a series of questions for panel members to consider.

CHICAGOWhen building regional cardiovascular service lines, focus on cost, speed and quality, said Gregory D. Timmers, CEO of Prairie Cardiovascular, during a presentation June 7 at the 2nd annual MedAxiom Cardiovascular Service Line Symposium. However, when starting from the ground up, Timmers recommended mastering two goals and the third will come soon after.

Invasive-interventional cardiologists earn more in median compensation per holiday, weekend and per day of on-call coverage than did most of their cardiology bretheren, according to a report released June 4. The median daily rate for invasive-interventional cardiologists was $650, equal to on-call pay for noninvasive cardiologists but $450 more than what other invasive cardiologists received.

Everyone is in a hurry these days, but the emergency medical services (EMS) may not have enough pep in its step when it comes to treating STEMI patients. In fact, James G. Jollis, MD, told Cardiovascular Business that nearly 90,000 patients in the U.S. are not treated according to the guidelines. Now, statewide STEMI care networks may provide a solution to help cut time to reperfusion and improve outcomes.

The number of nonacute PCIs deemed inappropriate varies broadly across the U.S. However, a study found that a hospitals proportion of inappropriate PCI use was not linked to in-hospital mortality, periprocedural bleeding and medication use post-PCI. The studys lead author, Steven M. Bradley, MD, MPH, told Cardiovascular Business that the results show room for improvement, especially in terms of patient selection.