Heart Failure

When discharge summaries contain detailed information and are sent quickly to primary care physicians, they can help reduce hospital readmissions, according to studies from researchers at Yale School of Medicine.

Outcomes for certain cardiac arrest patients were better for those admitted to teaching hospitals during national cardiology meetings compared with patients admitted on non-meeting days, according to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The Senate introduced legislation this week that would require Medicare to consider patients' finances when deciding whether to punish a hospital for readmission numbers.

As the bill for providing healthcare in the United States continues to grow, hospitals are finding that many of their expenses can be chalked up to patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart failure taking avoidable trips to the emergency room (ER).

Nearly 10% of women treated with herceptin were found to be susceptible to heart risks, which reversed once treatment was halted.

Metformin, the go-to drug for patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), may help control glycated hemoglobin (A1C) levels, but it does not help prevent heart failure in heart attack patients who do not have the disease, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

Can a diabetic's likelihood of developing complications depend on picking the right doctor? A study suggests it can.

PLAINSBORO, N.J. From leveraging their joint buying power to better deployment of a hard-to-find pediatric liver transplant surgeon, two large healthcare systems in Florida are seeing the benefits of sharing resources on a bigger scale, according to Kavita Patel, MD, of the Brookings Institution, and her co-authors who write in the inaugural issue of The American Journal of Accountable Care.

As the CMS begins the second year of a penalty program for preventable hospital readmissions required by the healthcare reform law, new research indicates that hospitals fare better when they focus on patient care more generally rather than targeting specific conditions, such heart failure, or specific timeframes, such as 30 days post-discharge.

Paul Hauptman, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Health Management & Policy, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, says that clinicians tend to focus on non-patient focused outcomes.

An Internet-based telehealth intervention for elderly heart failure patients found no discernible incremental impact on morbidity or mortality compared with case management alone.