With the Senate waiting to vote on the Medicare sustainable growth rate bill until it reconvenes on April 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has decided to delay enforcement of the “two-midnight” policy until April 30.

The New York Times editorial writers favored swift passage of a bipartisan bill that fixes the sustainable growth rate (SGR) problem that has vexed doctors for years. They also chastised the Senate for postponing action until their return from recess on April 13, leaving “an irresponsible short time to consider such important legislation.”

The term in economics is hyperbolic discounting, the inability to act today on what affects the seemingly distant future. You can apply it to some patients and lawmakers.

The House voted to eliminate the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that for years has threatened to cut physician payment from Medicare. Cardiovascular societies praised the move and encouraged the Senate to follow suit.

The market for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices is expected to burgeon through 2020, far outpacing surgical valves, one market report projected.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) programs are picking up steam in the U.S. And they can be fiscal as well as clinical successes, but it requires physicians and administrators working together to maximize efficiencies.

The letter is short and the list is long. Almost all of the major cardiovascular and imaging societies banded together with approximately 700 medical associations to implore Congress to repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

Continuing with warfarin may be significantly more cost-effective than switching to heparin during pacemaker or defibrillator surgery.