Hospital readmission rates may provide a yard stick for measuring quality of care, but small permutations in the methods used to calculate those rates can make a big difference in rankings, according to an analysis published Oct. 9 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

States that terminated Certificate of Need regulations for cardiac care experienced lower costs per CABG patient after the regulations were dropped and no changes in cost per PCI patient, according to a study published online Oct. 2 in Medical Care Research and Review.

In the future, successful doctors, hospitals and health systems will shift their activities from delivering health services within their walls toward a broader range of approaches that deliver health, which will require providers to become less product-oriented and more customer-oriented.

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