Michael S. Emery, MD, a cardiologist at Carolina Cardiology Consultants in Greenville, S.C., shares his experiences as a medical volunteer at the Boston Marathon in a post on the American College of Cardiology’s blog, ACC in Touch. “Even though I’m a cardiologist and not trained to handle trauma, it really was about the basics of care – stabilize and evacuate!” Emery is co-chair-elect of the American College of Cardiology’s Sports and Exercise Cardiology Section Leadership Council.

Michael J. Ackerman, MD, PhD, and Pedro J. Caraballo, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., described in a video the development of an alert system that flags QT-level prolongation that may indicate a patient is at risk of sudden cardiac death. In a paper published in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, they reported the institution-wide system is a noninvasive marker of mortality. Ackerman said the next step is to determine if the alert modifies physician behavior to provide potentially lifesaving interventions.

The New York Times featured Advocate Health Care, a nonprofit based in Oak Brook, Ill., in an article that details cost savings and improved quality achieved using an accountable care model. The effort is not without its own costs, though. Advocate “hired scores of workers to coordinate care and keep an eye on the highest-cost patients.”

The National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) created a video for physicians and hospital administrators that explains the basics of value-based purchasing. The video focuses on the shift from fee-for-service models to efforts to reward quality care and improved outcomes, and how registries can help measure and achieve those goals.

eClinicalWorks®, a leader in ambulatory healthcare IT solutions, today announced that Arkansas Heart Hospital, a nationally recognized and award-winning hospital dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, has selected eClinicalWorks comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) solution for all of its clinic locations. Tight integration with the organization’s laboratory and cardio diagnostics systems will extend the benefits of this technology. 

Decision trees sometimes overshadow clinical decision making, but physicians and patients can counter that trend with an emphasis on personalized medicine. That is the thesis of the book “When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests,” which was reviewed in the New York Times. The book is written by two emergency room physicians who offer examples of cookbook medicine, insights and cautionary tales.

The Colloquium announced April 1 that IU Health Blackford Hospital became the first critical care access hospital in America to achieve Colloquium Heart Failure Accreditation.

To avoid readmission penalties, some hospitals delegate resources to programs designed to keep patients from re-entering their doors. But are  hospitals that lack such resources being unduly punished? The New York Times explored the issue.