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Cardiovascular Quality and Research News

ACC CV Quality SmartBrief

The ACC CV Quality SmartBrief eNewsletter is a free, twice-weekly briefing for health care stakeholders interested in quality care. Learn more about the ACC CV Quality SmartBrief and subscribe.

  • How to accelerate shift to value-based health system

    Transforming the US health care system from volume to value-based care requires an incentive structure that rewards innovation and superior performance, experts wrote. To accelerate the shift to a value-based system, the government should sponsor programs that promote better organizational stability as well as excellent, predictable clinical and financial results, while encouraging providers to embrace risk, treat their patients as consumers and integrate behavioral health, virtual care, and patient engagement into their platforms. MedPage Today (free registration) (5/8) Learn More

  • How telehealth can improve APM care strategies

    Telehealth can be used to overcome barriers in care management strategies and improve outcomes within alternative payments models such as accountable care organizations, according to a Health Affairs blog. APM participants can leverage telehealth to extend population health management programs to a wider range of patient populations, or they can combine the technology to other platforms such as text- or phone-based outreach to allow more automated, less intrusive patient monitoring. Health Affairs Blog (5/10) Learn More

  • US records lowest weekly COVID-19 case total since Sept.

    The number of new COVID-19 cases across the US dropped 17% to less than 290,000 for the week that ended Sunday, marking the fourth consecutive week of decline and the fewest weekly cases since September, while COVID-19 deaths were down 1.3% to 4,756, the lowest weekly toll since July. Only seven states recorded increases in new cases, and the average number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fell for the second week in a row. Reuters (5/10) Learn More

  • Clinicians face backlog of CV interventional procedures

    The COVID-19 pandemic has created a rising backlog of patients waiting to receive interventional procedures for conditions like severe aortic stenosis, so clinicians may need to restructure services to handle it, according to remarks by Mamas Mamas of Keele University at the virtual Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Scientific Sessions. He estimated that nearly 5,000 severe aortic stenosis patients in England did not receive treatment between March and November last year and up to 698 may have died during that time. Healio (free registration) (5/10) Learn More

  • CVD care spending rose by more than $100B over 10 years

    Data published in Circulation show that US spending on cardiovascular disease care rose to $320 billion in 2016, an increase of more than $100 billion from 1996 levels. Dr. Maxwell Birger and fellow researchers wrote that "increases in service price and intensity" were mainly behind the rise in costs and that further efforts to control these factors are needed. Healio (free registration) (5/9) Learn More

  • Personalization to drive digital health engagement

    The demand for digital health care will increase this year, and personalization of services will become more of a factor in patient engagement, writes Frank McGillin, CEO of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic. The emphasis on virtual care will make specialists and experts more accessible, and chronic care management will become more widespread. MedCity News (5/10) Learn More

  • Personal factors affect willingness to use mHealth tools

    Health literacy, self-perception and experience with technology are key factors in whether patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will use digital self-management tools, researchers reported in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Patients who felt ashamed of their condition, did not believe it was bad enough to warrant intervention, had been diagnosed long ago or found computer issues frustrating were the least likely to use the tool, which included a pedometer, self-management skills and education about COPD. The American Journal of Managed Care online (5/7) Learn More

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