The end of fee for service will soon rank with death and taxes. Certain. As the countdown begins, how can hospitals start the migration to more accountable, high-quality and appropriate care and protect profits in 2013’s intensely competitive environment? Start right now, advises Banner Heart Hospital CMO Mark Starling, MD.

The first project to receive an investment from the American Heart Association’s Science & Technology Accelerator Program will be jointly developed by CytoVas, LLC and BD Biosciences, the firms announced.

Starting May 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement edits to prevent payment for services ordered or referred by providers not enrolled in the Medicare program.

From a hospital’s perspective, do postsurgical complications for procedures such as CABG pay? Quite possibly, if the patient has private insurance or Medicare, according to results published April 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The 2014 budget proposed by President Barack Obama bumps up funding for healthcare research but it also slices into payments hospitals receive for medical training. Cardiology associations said the moves may have deleterious effects on the physician workforce and research.

The vilified practice of providing free drug samples to physicians to dispense to their patients may not be so pernicious after all. At least, not when the drugs are a generic statin.

Power in numbers. A health insurer and three hospital systems have teamed up to track the long-term effectiveness of contrast media, stents, defibrillators, heart valves and other implantable devices to identify top performers and negotiate purchasing agreements with manufacturers.

POZEN Inc., a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transforms lives, announced the results of a POZEN sponsored study at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s 25th Annual Meeting and Expo on April 4, 2013.