Physicians should take the pulse on a patient’s financial health as well as medical needs when making care decisions, two physicians proposed in a viewpoint published online April 21 in JAMA. They offered tips to make the process easier.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released data this week on approximately 880,000 physicians who received Medicare payments in 2012. The information is both revealing and misleading.

An ophthalmologist and cardiologist who emerged as the top receivers of Medicare payments made substantial donations to political efforts, the New York Times reported. “[T]hey have turned to the political system in recent years to defend themselves against suspicions that they may have submitted fraudulent or excessive charges to the federal government.”

At least 200 cardiologists received $1 million or more in Medicare reimbursement in 2012, according to data made public April 9 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The top earner’s reimbursement exceeded $18 million.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) may begin posting information about physician payments as early as April 9, a move the government says will facilitate transparency and medical groups charge will foster confusion. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Despite access to care, a study of Medicare beneficiaries who underwent stress echocardiography found race significantly impacts downstream two-year cardiac costs, with non-white patients having significantly lower costs, according to a poster presentation at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific session.

The American College of Cardiology said Congress squandered an opportunity to provide certainty over Medicare when it failed to permanently repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

SPECT emerged as the winner in a head-to-head comparison of cost outcomes for patients evaluated for coronary artery disease (CAD) after a two-year follow-up. The cost of subsequent invasive procedures made rivals PET and coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) more expensive.