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 The Medicare Access and CHIP Reimbursement Act, or MACRA, is no longer just the law that repealed the sustainable growth rate.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.

Research from the University of Louisville has found that the Abiomed Impella 2.5 heart pump helps reduce the risk of acute kidney injury—even in patients with preexisting kidney disease—when physicians are trying to complete a high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (HRPCI).

Many people who abuse opioids end up developing endocarditis—but physicians are considering alternative methods to treating these kinds of patients, because many of them continue to abuse drugs and end up dead.

Patients with hypertension who received an electronic counseling intervention had a 10.1 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure after a year compared with a six mmHg reduction for a control group, according to a randomized, double-blind controlled trial in Canada.

An analysis of two randomized trials found that taking bococizumab had no benefits with regards to reducing the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in lower cardiovascular risk patients.

Inclisiran, a PCSK9 synthesis inhibitor designed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood, was shown to significantly lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) while maintaining standards of safety and tolerability for every single patient in a clinical trial, a triumph in treatment for cardiovascular disease caused by high cholesterol. 

Although patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol benefited from receiving evolocumab plus statin therapy, the results of the randomized FOURIER trial did not impress Wall Street as shares of the drug’s manufacturer, Amgen, declined shortly after the findings were announced.

Siemens Healthineers and medical technology company HeartFlow have collaborated on a comprehensive, noninvasive heart technology to help diagnose and manage patients who may have coronary artery disease (CAD).