Increasing physicians’ bonus sizes was linked to significantly improved quality of care for their patients, according to a study from a single health system published Feb. 8 in JAMA Network Open. However, adding the behavioral economic principles of social pressure and loss aversion failed to further improve providers’ effectiveness.

Research gathered as part of Irish Life Health’s annual fitness challenge has revealed the cardiovascular health of some local 15-year-olds is comparable to that of 55- or 60-year-olds—something experts are attributing to low levels of physical activity among the country’s youth.

Tennessee Interventional Imaging Associates (TIAA) reached an agreement with Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Erlanger Health System to remain its radiology service provider, according to the Times Free Press. The parties had previously been in a contract dispute that threatened the hospital’s premier stroke program.

Cardiovascular diagnoses such as chest pain and atherosclerotic heart disease are key drivers of outpatient payments, which accounted for almost 57 percent of hospitals’ net patient revenue in 2017, according to data compiled by Definitive Healthcare.

UnitedHealthcare partnered with Medtronic Feb. 1 to make the device company’s MiniMed 670G insulin pump system its preferred pump for diabetics aged 7 and up—a move the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) calls “an unacceptable step backward” and says effectively limits patients’ choices to one product.

Spending growth per Medicare beneficiary has slowed considerably since 2005, and 56 percent of that decline can be linked to reduced spending on cardiovascular disease and related risk factors, researchers reported Feb. 4 in Health Affairs.

Researchers predicted 12,400 additional deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) could occur in England between 2021 and 2030 if the United Kingdom severs preferential trading agreements with the European Union (EU) and prices of fruits and vegetables are impacted.

General Electric (GE) has changed its original strategy and will now aim to sell nearly half of its healthcare unit, GE Healthcare, according to GE CEO Larry Culp.