“You can do a lot of things and still do no harm – and often not much good, either.” In a “Hard Cases” column in the New York Times, Abigail Zuber, MD, describes her realization of how doing nothing beyond maintaining a doctor-patient relationship nudged a recalcitrant patient into doing something herself.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) kicked off a program designed to reduce hospital readmissions using patient-centric approaches. The ACC will recruit 35 hospitals to develop its ACC Patient Navigator Program, which is supported by $10 million grant from AstraZeneca. Here is a video from the announcement.

In a world-first study, researchers from The University of Queensland are using innovative pulse-reading technology to measure blood pressure to reduce cardiovascular disease.

The Wall Street Journal and its broadcast arm, the News Hub, explored emerging technologies designed to improve medication adherence. The approaches include “digital pills” that include digestible sensors and pill bottles that can alert patients when it is time to take their meds or indicate when a medication has expired.

Mechanical engineering students at Rice University in Houston developed the PediPower, a shoe-mounted generator that converts motion into energy as a power source for cardiac devices. Their initial goal was to make a generator that provided a reliable and constant source of power. The next step is to make PediPower smaller and lighter. Houston-based Cameron, which is collaborating with the Texas Heart Institute to design pumps for an artificial heart, approached the students with the project.  

Stephen Page, PhD, a licensed physical therapist, is leading a research project that uses smart phone technologies to track movement in stroke patients to determine their progress with rehabilitation. The approach relies on accelerometers, sensors in smart phones, video games and even air bags that detect motion. Page is an associate professor at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.

Data showing improved quality results for cardiac cath labs that apply for accreditation through the Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE) were presented during the SCAI Scientific Sessions in Orlando, FL, May 8-10, 2013.

Marketing intelligence firms that serve pharmaceutical companies apply sophisticated networking and data analytics to inform their clients about the prescribing habits of physicians as well as patient behavior. “Doctors tend not to be aware of the depths to which they are being analyzed and studied by people trying to sell them drugs and other medical products,” Jerry Avorn, MD, chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a New York Times article.