Don’t underestimate the importance of scheduling in running a successful cardiovascular practice. 

Policymakers from the FDA and CMS have been invited to participate in ACC.17, says Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD, ACC.17 chair and chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Heart & Vascular Center of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. “This year, we’ll be able to draw on local  expertise, which also happens to be our nation’s expertise—people who can help us understand important, timely issues in cardiovascular medicine and in the world of medicine,” he says.

 Bundling is premised on viewing healthcare as a continuum, but most of today’s healthcare systems use electronic medical records (EMRs) developed for episodic fee-for-service billing. While many in the cardiovascular community are at the beginning of this experiment, some health systems participated in the earlier Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative and have insights to share.    

As a growing body of evidence links palliative care to improved quality of life and better healthcare utilization for patients with heart failure, some in the medical community are advocating a shift from the traditionalist, acute care model to one more in tune with the psychological and physical needs of people with advanced cardiovascular disease.

Every day, cardiologists make hundreds, if not thousands, of mouse clicks, encounter countless notifications and manage a steady stream of alerts that pop up on their computer and device screens. Some say these demands of the electronic health record (EHR) are distracting clinicians from patient care and contributing to physician burnout. Yet there are workarounds that can help cardiologists handle the digital data deluge.

Treating today’s cancer patient no longer means simply targeting the cancer. Given the known cardiotoxicities of some established chemotherapies and the possibility that newer approaches may damage the heart, oncologists, cardiologists and imaging specialists now work together to detect and minimize the risk of treatment-induced heart failure.

About one year ago, FIRE AND ICE trial investigators reported that cryoballoon ablation (cryo) performed as well as radiofrequency ablation (RF) as a treatment for patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. But is “as good as” good enough to change practice? The answer may be emerging just now.

2017 brought a new reality to the U.S. healthcare community. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reimbursement Act, or MACRA, is no longer just the law that repealed the sustainable growth rate. With its Quality Payment Program that defines complex new payment models, MACRA is the machine that is nudging clinicians and practices away from fee-for-service and into value-based healthcare.As the transition begins, many clinicians feel confused as they straddle two payment systems in healthcare delivery. Paul N. Casale, MD, MPH, hosted a Cardiovascular Business roundtable discussion, where participants voiced questions on the minds of many, brainstormed answers and identified new opportunities for the cardiovascular community to lead.