September/October 2018

Is the 30-day readmissions metric for PCI fair or fatally flawed? The answer could have considerable financial, clinical and reputational impact for hospitals and physicians.

Despite limitations, hospital rankings have become an essential tool as clinicians and executives set goals for their institutions and strive to achieve them. And patients take notice, too.

When North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley set out to build a new hybrid OR equipped with robotic angiography, they had no idea the project would set a new bar for project planning and execution across the health system, bring “exponential improvements” in image quality and “exponential reductions” in radiation dose and contrast media, or that they’d finish the project almost a month early without a single change order and $600,000 under budget. Teamwork, meticulous planning and virtual reality-guidance played an essential role in refining and perfecting this image-guided surgery suite even before a pen was put to paper.

Patients are responsible for a growing portion of healthcare costs. In some cases, that responsibility has become untenable, leading patients to delay or avoid care, or to leave their providers with unpaid bills. In their search for solutions, hospitals and practices are trying a variety of interventions.

Look to behavioral science for new solutions that could reduce gender bias in medicine.

Friends and family often tell me their stories about encounters with the healthcare system, maybe because people know my interest in healthcare. Or perhaps they’re venting because healthcare has a PR problem that is in part caused by its affordability problem. Patients and families are annoyed, frustrated and worried that the care they are receiving might not be necessary or that they might not be able to afford their growing portion of the price.

Dyad relationships are fertile ground for drama that can affect the whole team. Recognizing your dyad’s pattern helps re-route it and create a more productive and positive work environment for everyone.

Three decades after the first Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference, TCT.18’s organizers are moving “toward a more practical approach,” says Cardiovascular Research Foundation CEO Juan Granada, MD.