There may not be enough physicians to go around, according to Merritt Hawkins' 2011 Survey of Final-Year Medical Residents." More than 75 percent of new doctors surveyed said that they had received at least 50 job solicitations during their training period, further outlining the nations physician shortage.

Pittsburgh-based payor HealthAmerica and Preferred Primary Care Physicians have launched a pilot program to provide coordinated and patient-centered primary care through improved communications with patients, physicians and care teams.

Selected low-risk Medicare patients who were discharged the same day that they underwent elective PCI were at no higher risk of death or readmission than patients who remained in the hospital overnight, according to a study published in the Oct. 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In an interview with Cardiovascular Business, the study's lead author added that the same-day discharge strategy, while not commonly applied, may prove cost-effective for some facilities.

Some architects of patient-centered medical home models suggest that a specialist team should lead patient management within the medical home. Others favor primary care physicians. But regardless of who owns the patientand by proxy, the medical homebetter coordination of care is needed.

It takes a village to treat the most complex patient, says Mary Norine Walsh, MD, medical director of heart failure and cardiac transplantation at Care Group/St. Vincents Health System in Indianapolis.

The U.K.s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for patients with a raised blood pressure. The addition comes after a modeling study, published Aug. 24 in The Lancet, found that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was a cost-effective strategy for men and women across all age groups, providing both savings and improvement in quality of life. An accompanying editorial agreed that improved diagnosis offsets the additional cost of ambulatory monitoring and added that changing assumptions in the model might show even more cost savings.

Paul N. Casale, MD, recommends that providers prepare for a new healthcare payment model in the U.S. that rewards value over volume.

Pfizer is looking to introduce an over-the-counter version of its blockbuster cholesterol pill Lipitor (atorvastatin) that could be purchased without a doctors prescription, according to a report released today by the Wall Street Journal. The move could help the company retain revenues for the drug, after Lipitors patent is set to expire this November. Last year, the blockbuster's sales soared to $11 billion.