When Uma Valeti, MD, was a cardiology fellow at the Mayo Clinic in the mid-2000s, he used stem cells to repair heart muscle following cardiac arrest. That experience led to an idea: if stem cells could generate heart muscle, why couldn’t they do the same for dietary meat?

As the general American population’s health declines in tandem with the country’s rising heart disease and obesity rates, U.S. citizens are retiring later and dying sooner, Bloomberg reported this week—leaving them with post-work schedules full of hospital visits, checkups and prescription refills.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working closely with federal and local organizations in Puerto Rico to remedy medical device and drug shortages on the island following the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the agency said in a release Oct. 20.

If the current Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) were adjusted to include a wider range of conditions, “safety-net” hospitals could be penalized an additional $198,000 per year when compared to those with fewer low-income patients, according to an analysis published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Cardiology fellow Haider Warraich, MD, hopes his book about death will change how we live.

Maryland residents now have access to a cost-comparing database that can help them choose a hospital based on their financial means.

As risk-sharing agreements become more common, hospitals and physicians are focusing on teamwork and attention to metrics.  

With physicians and administrators ever more focused on high-quality medicine and the financial bottom line, what trends and strategies are shaping the future of the cardiovascular service line? Let’s take a look at the future forecast through the expert eyes of Brian Contos, an executive director of The Advisory Board Company. Is your program poised to take advantage of changing market dynamics such as outpatient care, reimbursement and payment policies? And what about implantables, MACRA patient-focused care and interventional procedures like Protected PCI?