The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) delayed the launch of a new episode payment model affecting three types of cardiac care, pushing the July 1 start date to 2018. That doesn’t mean providers and hospitals should throttle back on bundles’ preparations.

The vision was clear. The experienced heart and vascular team at the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in Chicago needed a cardiovascular information system (CVIS) to stretch across its seven hospitals and 100 ambulatory care centers, physician offices and clinics. 

Data are an essential support for administrators and clinicians working together in healthcare. Choose datasets that reflect the practice’s goals and priorities, help you maintain a pulse on the health of the practice and spark the conversations that you and your leadership partner(s) must have to function at your combined best.

A plan for increasing use of cardiac rehabilitation (cardiac rehab, or CR) was a few months short of launch when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) tapped the brakes.  

With the launch of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), hundreds of thousands of U.S. clinicians will face new reporting requirements. Participation in a registry, a familiar quality improvement activity for many cardiology programs, could provide a solution.     

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association say that palliative care should be integrated into the care of all patients with advanced cardiovascular disease and stroke as a means to relieve symptoms, improve patients’ satisfaction with their care, reduce costs and extend survival (Circulation 2016;134[11]: e198-225). Yet, according to 2015 data from the National Palliative Care Registry, only 13 percent of palliative care patients had a cardiac diagnosis. This finding signals the need for both increased referrals to palliative care and more training for cardiovascular specialists in core palliative care skills.

Electronic health records (EHRs) have transformed the way clinical care is recorded and reimbursed, and now their promise for reaching across large populations is making them a key resource for cardiovascular research.  

 Effective patient education leads to improved informed consent, decreased preoperative anxiety and better postoperative pain management. Whether allocating office and hospital resources for patient education results in more cost-effective medicine is a more complicated issue.