HCI's Monthly Review of the Healthcare Industry
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Robert J. Stilley
President, CEO
HeartCare Imaging, Inc.
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Dear Colleague -
I hope everyone had a great summer. Here at HCI we are excited to be opening up two new hospital sites, one in Texas and one in Tennessee. HCI continues to grow in the rural health market and we are close to announcing additional new sites, as well as additional services for rural healthcare providers. We've also been adding services within our university based practices. We're extremely proud of our ability to work with world class research universities. Based on all of this new activity we've added staff to ensure that we can continue to support all of our partner-clients at the highest level.
In September, we head to Dallas, TX to formally accept
Modern Healthcare's Best Places to Work in Healthcare award. We love our employees and are humbled and grateful to be selected for this award for the second year in a row. We will continue to look for ways that ensure we make this a great place to work.
Finally, it's almost football season. Here in the South, college football is close to a religion. We will try to keep in perspective...as long as our team wins.
Have a great month and enjoy the newsletter!
Best Regards,
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Coronary microvascular dysfunction tops BMI for CVD risk prediction
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Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) identified with cardiac stress PET testing was a better predictor of adverse events among obese patients than body mass index (BMI) and other traditional risk factors, researchers reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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Echocardiography reveals effects of pre-eclampsia
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Echocardiography of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia has shown that the condition negatively affects the heart's ability to relax between contractions, leading to inefficient pumping and an overworked heart, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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Multigene test may find risk for heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer
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A new way of measuring millions of small genetic variations that add up to cause harm allows researchers to calculate a person's inherited risk for common diseases.
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Improvements needed in healthy food access, education to prevent CVD
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Positive changes in diet can be critical in preventing CVD, although various factors can hinder patients from accessing healthy foods, according to a review published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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Physical activity improves CV biomarker levels in older patients
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Patients aged 60 to 64 years who increased their physical activity and reduced their sedentary time had favorable CV biomarker profile, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Life Expectancy Reduced With Early Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis
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Patients diagnosed at a young age with type 1 diabetes have a far greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and dying early compared with the general population than has previously been appreciated, with such patients losing more than a decade of life, new registry data reveal.
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Low-Dose Rivaroxaban Green-Lighted by FDA-For continued Prevention of Recurrent VTE
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The FDA approved the 10 mg once-daily dose of rivaroxaban (Xarelto) for patients who have taken at least 6 months of anticoagulation, manufacturer Janssen announced.
Approval was based on the EINSTEIN CHOICE study in which both 20-mg and 10-mg doses of rivaroxaban beat aspirin in reducing a patient's risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) -- by 66% and 74%, respectively -- without an elevated bleeding risk.
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Heart failure follow-up program improves outcomes, lowers costs
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A program designed to provide rapid follow-up visits to heart failure patients after hospital discharge improved 30-day survival, reduced readmissions and saved money, according to a retrospective study published in the American Journal of Medical Quality.
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Low levels of air pollution linked to changes in the heart
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Regular exposure to even low levels of air pollution may cause changes to the heart similar to those in the early stages of heart failure, experts say.
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Telestroke Doubled tPA; Humidity Risk; Epilepsy Drug for Stroke Prevention?
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Kaiser Permanente Northern California nearly doubled thrombolytic use and cut door-to-needle times without more adverse events by implementing a standardized protocol with all emergency stroke cases managed by a dedicated telestroke neurologist. (Stroke)
The antiepileptic drug sodium valproate was associated with a 56% reduced risk of recurrent stroke after controlling for potential confounders across three prospective studies in patients with previous stroke or transient ischemic attack. (Stroke)
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When Head Injuries Make Life Too Hard, Suicide Risk May Rise
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Traumatic brain injury can trigger a daily struggle with headaches, neck pain, dizziness and thinking problems that may drive some to suicide, researchers report. That risk more than triples in the first six months after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and it stays significantly higher over the long term, a new Danish study suggests.
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Dementia Breakthrough as Scientists Discover Genes Linked to Alzheimer's Disease
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Now researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, working with scientists around the United States on the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP), have discovered new genes that may contibute to the disease.
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AI can optimize treatment of glioblastoma
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An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm can reduce dosing levels for chemotherapy and radiotherapy for glioblastoma without affecting the effectiveness of the treatments, according to a study being presented this week at the 2018 Machine Learning for Healthcare conference at Stanford University.
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15-minute PET acquisition time for rectal cancer improves care—without extending scan time
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Extending PET acquisition time during PET/MRI for rectal cancer staging increases identified lymph nodes and has no impact on scan time, reported authors of a recent American Journal of Roentgenology study.
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Can Eyes Predict Parkinson’s Disease?
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Retinal thinning was linked to dopaminergic neuronal atrophy in a cross-sectional analysis, raising the possibility that it could be a way to detect pathologic changes in early Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, researchers said.
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Higher Mortality Rates Found in Patients with Parkinson’s Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Study Shows
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Patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) were found to have a mortality rate more than three times higher than the general population, according to researchers in Sweden.
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How does SBRT impact tumour hypoxia?
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Tumour hypoxia is known to adversely affect outcomes for patients undergoing conventional radiotherapy. However, there are no published studies examining the influence of hypoxia on clinical outcomes for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), in which high doses of radiation are delivered in up to five fractions.
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Too much sleep could be worse for health than too little
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An analysis of pooled data from dozens of studies covering more than 3 million people finds that self-reported sleep duration outside of 7–8 hours each night is linked to a higher risk of death and cardiovascular diseases.
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FDA Approves Drug for 2 Types of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
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Officials with the FDA have approved a new treatment for 2 rare types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the skin, relapsed or refractory mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary syndrome (SS), after at least 1 prior systemic therapy, according to a press release.
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Ritalin-type drugs best to treat ADHD in children, shows study
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Ritalin and other drugs of the same class are the most effective and safest medications to prescribe for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a major scientific review.
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Kidney Dialysis Can Raise Risk of Dementia in Older Adults
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Researchers say low blood pressure may be one reason people on kidney dialysis treatment have a higher risk of developing dementia.
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SNMMI urges FDA to help alleviate shortage of gallium-68
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Currently, only one generator is FDA approved for the production of Ga-68 Dotatate injection (NetSpot), a radiopharmaceutical utilized for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging or radionuclide therapy in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NET).
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The healthcare industry is in a world of cybersecurity hurt
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As a relentless swarm of successful cyber attacks severely disrupt companies in every industry and require enormous expenditures to repair the damage, what typically gets lost in the shuffle is that some industries are victimized more than others — sometimes far more. The corporate victim that almost always grabs this dubious spotlight is the healthcare industry — the second-largest industry in the U.S. and one in which hacker meddling of operations not only costs lots of time, money and operational downtime, but threatens lives.
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Four Pros to Integrating EHR, Practice Management Software
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Consolidating electronic health records and practice management software allows practices to save time and money, make fewer mistakes, and reduce the risk of privacy breaches, according to an article published in Physicians Practice.
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Cyber Insurance Recommended for All Physician Practices
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The growing threat of hacking is increasing the number of physicians buying cyber insurance, according to an article published in Medical Economics.
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Politics that Affect Medicine
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CMS Administrator Seema Verma calls on payers to release claims data in API format
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Administrator Seema Verma urged health insurance companies to follow the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' lead and make claims data more readily available.
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Trump admin urges states to cooperate on expansion of non-ObamaCare plans
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Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday urged states to cooperate with the Trump administration's expansion of "short-term" health plans outside of ObamaCare. Several state regulators have moved to restrict the sales of these plans in their states, arguing that, despite being less expensive than ObamaCare plans, they're bad for consumers and aren't an adequate substitute for comprehensive insurance.
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Azar eyes overhauling certificates of need, Medicaid drug rebates
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HHS Secretary Alex Azar hinted the agency will overhaul certificate-of-need regulations and force drugmakers to pay full rebates to state Medicaid programs for new formulations of existing drugs.
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New Trump administration rule will require hospitals post prices online
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Hospitals will be required to post online a list of their standard charges under a rule finalized Thursday by the Trump administration.
While hospitals are already required to make this information public on request, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said the new rule would require the info be posted online to "encourage price transparency" and improve "public accessibility."
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For over 25 years, HRSI has provided Authorized User (AU) classroom and laboratory training to physicians. HRSI's training is recognized by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and fulfills the didactic training required by law.
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Annual Scientific Session of the
American Society of Nuclear Cardiology
Bridging Quality Imaging and Patient Care
September 6-9, 2018 | San Francisco Marriott Marquis | Calif.
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Mark your calendar! The Radiological Society of North America’s 104
th
Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place November 25 to 30 at McCormick Place in Chicago. Every year, radiology’s best and brightest convene at the RSNA annual meeting to learn from the specialty’s top experts and get an exclusive look at the latest in medical imaging technology. RSNA 2017 brought breakthrough science in machine learning, artificial intelligence and 3D printing to the forefront, affirming the Society’s position as the leader promoting scientific innovation for better patient care. Save the date now to see tomorrow’s medical imaging discoveries today at RSNA 2018!
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HeartCare Imaging, Inc. | Phone: 561-746-6125 | Fax: 561-741-2036 | info@heartcareimaging.com
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