BOSTON—While U.S. healthcare has undergone major overhauls in the past, the changes will be more lasting this time because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is uniquely engaged, explained David A. Gregory, MPA, executive vice president of healthcare management consulting firm Presscott Associates, during a presentation Oct. 2 at the 2012 AdvaMed conference in Boston.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised penalties under its hospital readmissions reduction program.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) recently learned that Connolly, the Medicare Recovery Auditor Contractor (RAC) for Region C, has received approval to conduct in depth medical review on claims submitted for complex office visits, specifically those billed with CPT code 99215. Affected states include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.​​​

The final webinar in the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) series "Let Data Do the Talking: Effectively Using Tools for Quality and Cost Improvement" will explore the myths and realities of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR).​​

Multiple factors thwart the efforts to bring new technologies to patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. Regulatory barriers, less financial return on investment and government impediments interfere with innovation. However, if innovators can adapt and evolve to the flattening of the global healthcare setting, a silver lining may materialize

On average, hospitals implement only five of the 10 recommended practices for reducing 30-day readmission rates for patients with acute MI (AMI) or heart failure (HF), according to a study published online July 18 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers plan to build from this baseline paper to identify which practices help reduce rates, the lead author told Cardiovascular Business.

Welcome to the dog days of summer. The phrase suggests unhurried relaxation and unharried contemplation. We can use the breather, given what is on the horizon in healthcare.

Using transradial access during catheterizations rather than the femoral approach can save a hospital on average $275 per patient, according to a cost-benefit analysis. The study, based on 14 randomized controlled trials, found that radial access proved less costly than femoral for catheterizations, despite radials longer procedure time and higher failure rate.