In 2013, the federal government spent $103 billion on prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, the New York Times reports.

As an early career electrophysiologist, Richard I. Fogel, MD, learned to raise his hand when projects needed a captain. Now he’s CEO of the St. Vincent Medical Group in Indianapolis and president of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). His formula? Listen, ask good questions, surround yourself with talented people and let them do their jobs, he explains in a Q&A with Cardiovascular Business.

Statins are cost-effective for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults who are at least 75 years old, according to a simulation model.

Fewer than 10 percent of people used price and quality comparison data when choosing doctors, hospitals or health insurance plans in the past 12 months, according to the Kaiser Health Tracking poll released on April 21.

Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, projected federal healthcare spending has decreased each year as factors such as a weak economy, high deductible health plans and reduced provider payment rates have led to historically low rates of spending growth. Researchers from the Urban Institute released a report online on April 8 that examined the changing forecasts.

It turns out the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can’t turn itself on a dime, and as a result, some doctors will see reimbursement cut by 21.1 percent temporarily. The Senate’s 10 p.m. vote on April 15 to repeal the sustainable growth rate formula came too late for CMS to pull the switch on cuts fully, The Hill reported. CMS promised to reprocess Medicare claims for shortchanged physicians after it updates the system.

The sustainable growth rate (SGR) is toast. Now the real work begins.

With the “doc fix” behind them, cardiology's advocates are ready to move onto other important issues. “Now we can really start talking about how we implement rewarding quality of care and switching from volume to quality,” said Peter Duffy, MD.