The current shift from traditional fee-for-service to value-based payment models necessitates that physicians and hospitals work collaboratively in looking for more efficient and less costly healthcare that provides better outcomes.

Mobile phone-based software may allow physicians to manage and consult on stroke cases in real time from anywhere in the world, according to a study presented at the ninth annual meeting of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery in San Diego.

The cardiovascular community has come a long way over the past eight years with the development of appropriate use criteria (AUC). To understand why these criteria are important to our daily practice, we must remember why the concept was first developed.

Partnering was a key theme at MedAxioms Cardiovascular Service Line Management Symposium in Chicago. Heres a look at some presentations.

 Forty-five percent of cardiologists who responded to a nationwide survey of physicians said they would leave the practice of medicine in the next decade. That was 11 percentage points higher than physicians as a whole.

For physicians and hospitals that treat patients with MI, it may seem like no good deed goes unpunished, based on research published recently. The study found that among MI patients readmitted within 30 days of the incident MI, only 42.6 percent of the rehospitalizations were related to the MI or treatment.

Apixaban falls short of aspirin as a cost-effective stroke preventive strategy for atrial fibrillation patients who are unsuitable for warfarin, but only in the short term, according to an analysis in the July issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. If treatment is extended over years, then apixaban becomes first cost-effective and eventually dominant.

The majority of U.S. cardiology training programs may need to better focus on preventive cardiovascular medicine, according to survey results published in the July issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. Results showed that many  training programs in the U.S. do not adhere to preventive cardiovascular medicine Core Cardiovascular Training Symposium recommendations.