
Middle age introduces itself in many ways; one is atrial fibrillation (AF). My onset of AF seems to have coincided with a mountain bike accident in the woods of North Carolina that resulted in some cracked ribs.

The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.

There are cases presented to all physicians when we have to balance benefits of a particular treatment with concerns around safety for certain patients. In interventional cardiology, we see this dilemma with drug-eluting stents (DES). While this technology provides effective therapy for many patients with ischemia-inducing coronary lesions, there are certain patient groups that encounter problems for different reasons.
U.S. News & World Report and HealthGrades surveys that rank “Best Hospitals” according to their high-quality cardiovascular care do not create the most comprehensive list and may create confusion by excluding hospitals that provide the same quality of care, according to a study published in the January issue of the
Journal of the American College of Surgeons.