BOSTONRemote monitoring with implantable cardioverter-difibrillators (ICDs) was found to be cost-effective for hospitals, according to a session presented by Leonardo Calo, MD, of the cardiology division at Policlinico Casilino in Rome, May 10 at the 33rd annual scientific sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society. Remote monitoring also reduced patients' expenses.  

Almost one-third of hypertensive patients seen routinely by a cardiologist had suboptimal blood pressure (BP) control, and physician performance varied widely in a study published online May 1 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

McKesson has reported double-digit gains in the 2012 fourth quarter, compared with the previous year's fourth quarter, as well as the 2012 fiscal year, compared with the previous year.

If randomized controlled clinical trials are the gold standard for advancing knowledge in medical care, then the research community has been panning more particles than nuggets. That is the finding of a comprehensive analysis that focused on cardiovascular, mental health and oncology interventional trials. Most of the trials are quite small, author Robert M. Califf, MD, said in an interview.

Hospitals that seek to preserve the planet for all end up saving a lot of money for themselves, according to a new report from the Health Care Research Collaborative.

Implementing STEMI networks in areas with limited access to PCI-capable hospitals can help improve outcomes, according to a study published in the April issue of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care. The study showed comparable mortality rates for both community-based STEMI networks and PCI-capable hospitals.

The overwhelming majority of physicians would prefer to attend continuing medical education (CME) training online, according to the findings of the April 2012 Joint Survey of Physician Digital Behavior.

Last year Pamela I. Hartzband, MD, and Jerome E. Groopman, MD, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, published a perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine that lamented the shift in terminology from patients to customers and consumers. They argued that use of such language changed the patient-doctor relationship to a commercial exchange.