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-
Recently, I’ve been watching a Netflix series called ‘The Ranch’ which focuses on the trials and tribulations of running a family ranching business in rural Colorado. In one episode, the family patriarch Beau, played by Sam Elliot, collapses while working and is taken to the local healthcare facility. It appears that he has cardiac issues and is told to go to the regional medical center (located a couple of hours away) for testing and potential treatment. He refuses due to the distance, a lack of trust in who he will be dealing with, and the time investment which means he will not be able to work on his ranch. While this scene plays out in a fictional Netflix program, it accurately depicts what is happening across America daily. Patients are not receiving needed care due to a lack of availability and access. Life expectancy and quality of life in these rural are adversely affected. At HCI, we’re using what we’ve learned at some of our country’s best university medical centers and our innovative business models to ensure rural residents have a hometown option. We are continuing to explore new ways we can help these patients and hospitals that serve them because for us it’s not fiction or just a business but a passion to serve.
We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter!
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Urge Congress to Protect Reimbursement Rates for Specialty Providers |
Earlier this summer, CMS included a proposal in the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule that updates clinical labor policy and results in a 12% cut to one of the most widely- used SPECT codes in Medicare. We ask you to reach out to your member of Congress using the template letter provided and urge them to join in signing a dear colleague letter that would ask CMS not to finalize the clinical labor policy update and refrain from including a 3.75 cut in the conversion factor in the final rule. Finally, the letter asks for reforms to budget neutrality required under the physician fee schedule and urges CMS to work with Congress on policy solutions.
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Coffee may reduce risk of death from stroke and heart disease |
Among people with no diagnosis of heart disease, regular coffee consumption of 0.5 to 3 cups of coffee a day was associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease, stroke and early death from any cause when compared to non-coffee drinkers.
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Heart Inflammation More Common After COVID-19 Than After Vaccination |
Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, appears to be more common after a COVID-19 infection than after vaccination, according to a new study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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Prestroke Blood Sugar Control Lowers Disability Risk in Diabetics Undergoing Thrombectomy |
Prestroke blood sugar control with a target HbA1c of ≤ 7.0% is beneficial for neurological recovery in diabetes patients undergoing intra-arterial thrombectomy (IAT) for large vessel occlusive stroke, a recent study has found.
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Hypertension detection, treatment, control varies widely across countries |
Hypertension detection, treatment and control varies widely across different countries, with some middle-income countries outperforming high-income nations, researchers reported in The Lancet.
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Canagliflozen Reduces Risk of Hyperkalaemia In Diabetics With CKD |
The use of canagliflozin reduces the risk of hyperkalemia in people with type-2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease without increasing risk of hypokalemia, suggests a study published in the European Heart Journal.
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Addition of Pecan to the Diet Reduces Cholesterol Dramatically |
Addition of pecan, a tree nut to the diet dramatically improve a person's cholesterol levels, find University of Georgia researches. Pecans are high in healthy fatty acids and fiber, both of which have been linked to lower cholesterol.
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Coffee Drinking Reduces Risk of Death in Diabetes Patients |
Patients with type 2 diabetes are at a risk for developing complications of micro-and macrovascular diseases, and Coffee is one of the most popular beverages around the world known to have active biocompounds like caffeine, chlorogenic acids, and diterpenes that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-mutagenic properties in humans.
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Flavonoid-rich foods confer BP benefits, partly explained by gut bacteria |
Flavonoid-rich foods appear to have beneficial effects on BP, explained in part by gut microbiome characteristics, researchers reported in Hypertension.
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The hours you sleep mean more than you think |
In a new study, researchers at Lund University and Uppsala University have seen a clear connection between how long a person sleeps and a number of biomarkers linked to cardiometabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. "With greater knowledge of the actual mechanisms of disease development, the possibilities for a more specific and targeted treatment increase, says Sölve Elmståhl, one of the researchers behind the study.
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Cardiovascular Disease a Continuing Challenge in Type 1 Diabetes |
Despite a significant decline in cardiovascular disease risk for people with type 1 diabetes over time, the risk remains higher than that of the general population, new data from Finland show.
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Fat Cells Send Mitochondrial Distress Signals to the Heart |
Vesicles containing fragments of the organelles released from stressed adipocytes protect the heart against oxygen deprivation, a study in mice shows.
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Transformative prostate cancer therapy ‘should not be accepted’ without PET imaging |
Some argue bypassing PET will reduce costs and increase access to therapy, the pair noted. But physicians must accurately define where cancer is before treatment, similar to using chemo or radiation. And selecting those unlikely to respond to radioligand based on PSMA-PET will actually save money in the long run, Srinivas and Iagaru added.
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Maternal grandmothers’ prepregnancy BMI may impact grandkids’ risk for ADHD |
Maternal grandmothers who were underweight before becoming pregnant were more likely to have a grandchild diagnosed with ADHD than women in other BMI categories, a cohort study showed.
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AI helps reduce cancer PET imaging time and dose |
An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that significantly reduces PET imaging time and radiation dose in cancer patients is as effective as standard PET exams -- and the method produces similar results regardless of the scanner model, according to a study in npj Digital Medicine.
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PET radiomics predict relapse in lymphoma patients |
There's more to F-18 FDG PET than meets the eye -- especially if radiomics features are added -- when imaging patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a study published August 18 in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
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Researchers working on AI system to quickly diagnose autism |
In a study, whose findings were published in the journal Complex & Intelligent Systems, the researchers examined and tested two sets of nonlinear, highly distinctive features of EEG signals extracted from children aged four to 13. One set belonged to 40 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), while the other set was extracted from 37 children without any neurodevelopmental disorders. They were able to identify three distinct combinations of the EEG signal features that were "strongly predictive" of autism.
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Maternal obesity, weight gain increase risk for CRC among adult offspring |
In utero events such as maternal obesity and weight gain increased the risk for colorectal cancer development among adult offspring, according to research published in Gut.
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Sibling's likelihood of autism diagnosis impacted by age gap |
Mothers of children with autism who delayed their subsequent pregnancy by 2.5 to three years reduced the likelihood of their next child also being diagnosed on the spectrum, new research shows.
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Ocrevus Reduces MS Relapse Risk, But Linked to More Hospitalizations |
Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) reduces relapse risk and slows disability progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) but also is associated with higher hospitalization rates in older people with relapsing forms of the disease, a new observational study reports.
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Uric Acid May Help to Protect Neurons, Ease Non-motor Symptoms |
Among people with Parkinson’s disease, those with low blood levels of uric acid — a natural antioxidant — tend to have more severe non-motor symptoms like anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction, a study indicates.
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FDA extends Pfizer COVID-19 shot's shelf life |
The FDA has extended the shelf life of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine from six months to nine months, the agency said Aug. 24.
The shot can now be stored at temperatures up to minus-76 degrees Fahrenheit, up from minus-130 degrees Fahrenheit, for up to nine months, up from six months.
The agency said the updated shelf life applies to batches that expired before the extension, as long as they were stored at proper temperatures.
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Restoring DAXX protein levels may prevent misfolding of rogue proteins known to drive Alzheimer's |
For the first time, Penn Medicine researchers showed how restoring levels of the protein DAXX and a large group of similar proteins prevents the misfolding of the rogue proteins known to drive Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as certain mutations that contribute to cancers. The findings could lead to new targeted approaches that would restore a biological system designed to keep key proteins in check and prevent diseases.
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New Biomarker for Early Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? |
A computer rendering of the olfactory system in a cutaway of a woman smelling a flower
Olfactory bulb volume (OBV) was associated with odor identification and mediated the link between volumes of central olfactory brain structures and olfactory function in older adults, a cross-sectional study showed.
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Dopamine Transporter Levels May Predict Parkinson’s Earlier |
Lower levels of dopamine transporter protein in the striatum — a brain region affected significantly in Parkinson’s — may predict the development of the neurodegenerative disease up to eight years earlier in older adults carrying the most common genetic risk factor, a small study suggests.
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Glia Brain Cells May Open Door to Treatment Strategy |
Brain cells called glia work to protect the brain from damage in Huntington’s disease by reducing the expression of genes involved in maintaining connections between nerve cells, a new study indicates.
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Imaging did not contribute to an increase in Medicare spending between 2009-2019 |
Imaging did not contribute to an increase in Medicare spending between 2009 to 2019, despite claims to the contrary, according to a new analysis published Sunday.
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Report: Cybercriminals increasingly targeting outpatient facilities |
Hospital data breaches have made headlines over the past year, with some recent incidents putting hundreds of thousands of records at risk.
However, the report notes that non-hospital facilities have also been victimized.
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Workers, employers at odds over healthcare staffing shortage |
As healthcare providers offer bonuses and other perks to attract new employees amid a growing workforce shortage, staff unions say that's not enough as their members face personal protective equipment shortages and unsafe staffing ratios.
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Practices push for Provider Relief Fund extension to grapple with ‘laborious’ requirements, COVID surge |
Physician practices are pushing the federal government to extend the deadline for Provider Relief Funds as they grapple with “laborious” reporting requirements and a COVID-19 resurgence.
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CMS delays enforcement of key parts of price transparency rule by 6 months |
The Biden administration has delayed enforcement of key parts of a major insurer price transparency rule by six months until July 1, 2022, to give plans more time to comply.
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Democrats eye new federal coverage program in states declining Medicaid expansion |
Congressional Democrats are likely to create a new federal program in their coming package to provide health insurance coverage in states that have declined to expand Medicaid, following a transition period to set up the new program, aides and advocates say.
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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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HeartCare Imaging, Inc. | Phone: 561-746-6125 | Fax: 561-741-2036 | info@heartcareimaging.com |
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