While the perpetual patching of the sustainable growth rate formula remains a thorn in physicians’ side, the Upshot section of the New York Times argues it has forced lawmakers to look for savings within the Medicare budget. That maneuvering has helped keep costs down, which was the intention of the flawed legislation. 

Peripheral interventions by the cardiologist who captured headlines for billing Medicare $18 million are now under scrutiny, which prompted the New York Times to investigate the upsurge in peripheral stenting.

Drug makers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer spent almost $8 million to promote the novel oral anticoagulant Eliquis to physicians, according to an analysis by ProPublica of the Open Payments database. Eliquis, or apixaban, was the second highest drug on the spending list, with AstraZeneca’s Brilinta (ticagrelor) placing third.

New data presented today at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2014 Scientific Sessions showed once-daily XARELTO® (rivaroxaban) is associated with significantly fewer hospitalization days and outpatient visits compared to warfarin in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). Corresponding hospitalization and outpatient healthcare costs were also significantly lower for XARELTO® compared to warfarin in NVAF patients, according to longitudinal, real-world findings from this observational study.

A New York Times dive into the Open Payments database looked at the 130 physicians who earned more than $100,000 in industry payments. Cardiologists and plastic surgeons appear prominently in the article. Some doctors countered that they make less speaking and consulting than if they stayed in the clinic treating patients.

A report from the Institute of Medicine that recommended redistributing funding for medical graduate education drew the ire of some professional societies and associations in a story by NPR.

“There is no more wasteful entity in medicine than a rushed doctor,” writes cardiologist Sandeep Jauhur, MD, in an opinion piece in the New York Times. Jauhur, director of the heart failure program at the North Shore-Long Island Health System in New York, explains how cutting physician pay leads to more downstream costs.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), a global medical device company, today announced that data presented during Heart Rhythm 2014, the Heart Rhythm Society’s Annual Scientific Sessions, found that the use of quadripolar leads reduced the number of hospitalizations by 53 percent when compared to the non-quadripolar group. This hospitalization rate reduction translated into a statistically significant 62 percent reduction in overall costs for both health care systems and patients.