Among the biggest threats to patient safety during cardiac surgery are failures in teamwork and deficiencies in nontechnical skills such as communication, according to a statement written by an American Heart Association (AHA) committee. The group makes several recommendations for future research as well as ways to cultivate and maintain a “culture of safety.”

Guidelines should retract recommendations to perioperatively initiate beta-blockers in noncardiac surgery patients who are at risk of cardiac events, the authors of a meta-analysis proposed. Their study found the practice increased the risk of postoperative death.

Today marks the beginning of the National Physician Payment Transparency Program: Open Payments, otherwise known as Physician Payments Sunshine Act. It took a while for this rule to crest the horizon, but the delays may have allowed for the development of some helpful tools and guides.

GE Healthcare is recalling systems used in nuclear medicine imaging procedures after a patient died from injuries that occurred while being scanned. The recalled products are designed to enhance images for cardiology, neurology, oncology and other clinical applications. 

Worried about keeping track of gifts large and small under the Sunshine rule that kicks in Aug. 1? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services now offers an app, one for physicians and one for industry, to help tally the score.

Is it time for the medical research community to friend Facebook? One research group’s experience with the social media tool suggested yes, but an accompanying editorial urged caution.

Instead of focusing on the attainment of normal-range numbers as the rationale behind prescribing medications, three physicians argued in the New England Journal of Medicine that providers should utilize medical evidence and encourage the use of safe, effective and low-cost drugs.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) released changes to the process for developing appropriate use criteria (AUC), including frequently misinterpreted terminology for describing the levels of appropriateness of care.