Novel oral anticoagulants have outstripped warfarin for usage in the U.S., but at a price. A study found that the three new options for treating patients with atrial fibrillation made up 62 percent of new prescriptions but cost $900 higher than warfarin after six months.

Could this be a preview of a keynote speech at the upcoming Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in Washington, D.C.? In an assay, economist Uwe E. Reinhardt, PhD, argued that graduate medical education (GME) did not meet the standards for receiving federal funding.

Buyers beware. Hospitals in California charged as little as $10 and as much as $10,169 for a lipid panel test, according to an analysis published Aug. 15 in BMJ Open.

Overall compensation for cardiologists dropped almost 8 percent between 2012 and 2013 but the pain was not spread evenly, according to MedAxiom’s annual survey. Pay and pay cuts varied greatly depending on subspecialty, employment model and region.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled that a number of treatments to prevent cardiovascular disease were either not cost effective or offered no cost savings in a report released Aug. 11.

A pay-for-performance model in England failed to show much sustained improvement in 30-day mortality for heart failure (HF) and acute MI (AMI), in spite of incentives and penalties, according to a study published online Aug. 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agreed to provide some reimbursement for the CardioMEMS heart failure and MitraClip valve devices beginning in fiscal year 2015.

A Pennsylvania pharmacy-based intervention program could help patients and insurers alike save money and live healthier lives, according to a study published in the August issue of Health Affairs.