WASHINGTON, D.C.—The principal investigator of a clinical trial needs to be heavily involved with every facet of a trial in order to ensure the proper quality control, according to a Feb. 25 presentation at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) annual meeting.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The overall inclusion of women in cardiovascular disease (CVD) drug trials is comparable to the overall female CVD population; however, women are largely underrepresented in Phase 1 trials. Despite this improvement, minorities are still grossly underrepresented, particularly in the acute coronary syndrome drug trials.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Independent data and safety monitoring boards are a necessary component of any cardiovascular trial involving human participants, but they have received a great deal of scrutiny due to some controversies about decision-making. Ajay J. Kirtane, MD, explained the legal role and responsibilities of these powerful oversight arms of trials.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American College of Cardiology announced a major change to the appropriate use criteria lexicon, with descriptions of "appropriate," "may be appropriate" or "rarely appropriate" (as opposed to "appropriate," "uncertain" and "inappropriate") for procedures or the use of imaging in certain populations. J. Jeffrey Marshall, MD, sat down with Cardiovascular Business during the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) meeting to discuss the implications of the changes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the long-awaited final regulation implementing the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, also referred to as the PPSA or Sunshine Act.

With three stages and numerous revisions to the policies and implementation dates, the federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program can be confusing to navigate. Currently, the program is in Stage 1 and Stage 2 is set to launch in 2014. While 2012 was the last year to receive the maximum incentive payment, qualifying physicians still have the opportunity to enroll in the program for 2013 and to avoid the coming penalties for not participating.

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

Dayton, Ohio, received top laurels from Healthgrades for having the lowest average risk-adjusted inhospital mortality rate across 16 conditions and procedures based on 2005-to-2011 data.