January/February 2009

As hospitals and cardiology groups deal with the challenging economy, the group of luminaries in our electrophysiology (EP) roundtable cover story all agreed that an EP program makes good economic sense. This is quite a change from just a few years ago when common wisdom held that EP was a loss leader for hospitals.

Smaller units offer improved workflow and productivity for pennies on the dollar compared to their larger cousins.

The rapid advances in CT technology over the last decade have been amazing. This is especially true in the field of cardiac CT, which pushes computed tomography technologic innovation to its limits. The introduction of the 320-detector row dynamic volume CT scanner (Toshiba America Medical Systems) in 2007 promised to improve patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness by providing more accurate, comprehensive results in shorter periods of time. Our experiences to date lend support to these promises.

The rapid advances in CT technology over the last decade have been amazing. This is especially true in the field of cardiac CT, which pushes computed tomography technologic innovation to its limits. The introduction of the 320-detector row dynamic volume CT scanner (Toshiba America Medical Systems) in 2007 promised to improve patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness by providing more accurate, comprehensive results in shorter periods of time. Our experiences to date lend support to these promises.

One goal of hospital administrators and executives is that all of their various patient information systems work well in concert. A concomitant concern of private practice cardiology groups is that they find the available patient data from the hospital systems valuable and effective on a day-to-day basis. The two endpoints dont always meet up.

The prevailing notion is that bypass surgery is superior to stenting in patients with diabetes. The truth, however, is more complicated, as the decision-makers learn to examine the individual pathologies in lieu of standardization. Often, this process is more art than science in taking into account all of the parameters of a patients disease.

Analysts forecast an increase in the number of heart failure patients, going from 6 million in 2007 to more than 30 million in 2037. This rapidly expanding patient population will challenge cardiologists, allied health personnel and equipment and device manufacturers to keep pace with ever-changing ways to improve care and survival rates.