Questions have swirled around the value of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients whose quality of life has suffered from chronic total occlusion (CTO). Inevitably, another issue has arisen: which cath labs and operators should be undertaking these difficult and costly procedures?
The availability of a specialty drug doesn’t guarantee its accessibility, as cardiologists who try to prescribe PCSK9 inhibitors to their patients are learning. Insurers’ requirements for prior authorizations can create formidable barriers, but some providers have found ways to surmount them.
With the passage of MACRA and introduction of new reimbursement models, hospitals are analyzing the costs and benefits of sending patients to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).
Pediatric cardiologists say they can use telemedicine to improve patient care and ease the burden on patients’ families. But with the costs of these programs stretching into the hundreds of thousands, and a patchwork of reimbursement and regulations to contend with, what does it take to find success with pediatric telecardiology?
Cardiology’s Shark Tank will be back for its fourth year when TCT convenes Oct. 29-Nov. 2, in Denver. Program Director Juan F. Granada, MD, shares insights from the conference’s innovation competition.
The business of cardiology was at the forefront of discussion at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp in May. Speakers focused on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), bundled payment models and value-based reimbursement. Here are a few of the lessons attendees took back to their practices.
