cardiologists

Primary care costs much less than specialty care, but insurers aren't necessarily taking that into account, according to a new study. The study, by HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, noted that while orthopedist fees averaged $210 per visit, and cardiologists $232 per visit, primary care physicians typically charge $100 per visit. But insurers still penalize primary care, requiring patients to pay an average of 20 percent of PCP costs out-of-pocket. Despite higher costs, …

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A new study suggesting that stents don't help non-emergency cardiac patients more than drugs could soon change how insurers reimburse for such treatments, observers say. The recent New England Journal of Medicine study, which looked at 2,287 non-emergency patients, found that angioplasty and stenting didn't save lives or prevent heart attacks, though it did reduce chest pain. Right now, roughly 50 to 80 percent of angioplasties are performed on non-emergency patients, with …

A new system developed at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences may help hospitals do a better job of saving heart attack victims by allowing paramedics to send heart rhythm records to waiting cardiologists using cellular phones. Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) paramedics who serve central Arkansas are planning to begin treating suspected heart attack victims using this system, which involves attaching standard EKG sensors to both the patient and the phone. …

A Connecticut court has ruled that under Freedom of Information rules, the HMOs running the state's Medicaid program must disclose the rates that they pay cardiologists and gastroenterologists. They're also being required to disclose the number of times patients were denied prescriptions due to lack of prior approval, and whether those patients were given temporary supplies. The FOI case, which was originally brought by Yale professor Kari Hartwig and the New Haven Legal Assistance …

Officials at the state's University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) continue to struggle with the fallout from a massive corruption scandal. This week, a federal monitor concluded that the school ad billed Medicare and Medicaid almost $36 million and paid $5.7 million in illegal fees to physicians since 2002, stating that illegal activity continues "to this day." Monitor Herbert J. Stern found that the school had given several cardiologists no-show teaching jobs at a …

In a complicated spat involving contract disputes, a fight for high-margin services and long-standing bad blood between two competing hospitals, a Georgia cardiologist backed by one of the facilities is suing to regain his privileges at the other. Dr. John Madonna Jr. has sued Satilla Regional Medical Center of Waycross, GA, asking the courts to force Satilla to re-establish his privileges there. Madonna had formerly worked under a contract held by Baptist Specialty Physicians (BSP), …

Recently there have been reports that blood clots can form within drug-coated stents designed to keep arteries clear. But cardiologists at the Transcather Cardiovascular Therapeutics show say patients are "far more are being killed each year by the failure of doctors to promptly clear coronary arteries and install stents when patients arrive at a hospital during a heart attack." Experts say that many studies have proven the superiority of stents to clot-busting drugs, and that the risk of …

A Texas cardiologist has been awarded $22.5 million in appeal to his his suit against three rival cardiologists and the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. A previous jury had found in favor of his charges of breach of contract, defamation, business disparagement, tortious interference with a contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress and awarded him a $366 million judgment, but the judge hearing the appeal reduced the award.

The dispute dates back to 1998, when a …

In Elyria, Ohio, patients with blocked coronary arteries are four times as likely to undergo angioplasties than patients elsewhere in the nation. There's no evidence that providers are doing something wrong, but the statistics are so unusual that Medicare has taken notice and is investigating the phenomenon. "As it turns out, nearly all the procedures at the Elyria hospital are performed by a group of cardiologists who dominate coronary care in [Elyria] and have an unabashed enthusiasm …