May 09, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has come through with the anticipated new technology add-on payment (NTAP) for inpatient coronary intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) cases using the Shockwave IVL system and Shockwave C
2 coronary IVL catheter, clearing the way for additional reimbursement.
That would be welcome news for operators looking to offset the cost of the new technology recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of severely calcified coronary plaques. At $4,700, the device cost is considerably higher than that of other calcium-modification tools on the market. With the NTAP, hospitals would receive a maximum of $3,666 for an inpatient procedure involving coronary IVL, although the exact amount will vary on a case-by-case basis.
WHO highlights importance of good hand hygiene
To mark World Hand Hygiene Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) today called for countries to reduce inequalities in the availability of good hand hygiene and other infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.
While good hand hygiene is considered vital in preventing healthcare-associated infections and the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, research has shown that in some low-income countries, only 1 in 10 healthcare workers practices proper hand hygiene, and that s often because they lack the resources to do so. A 2020 WHO report found that globally, 1 in 4 healthcare facilities lacks basic water services, and 1 in 3 lacks hand hygiene supplies at the point of care.
March 17, 2021
Getting patients with acute ischemic stroke treated more rapidly either through the use of a mobile stroke unit or by taking them directly to the angiography suite increases the number of patients who receive proven therapies and improves clinical outcomes, show two trials presented during the virtual International Stroke Conference 2021 this week.
In the BEST-MSU study, patients initially treated in a mobile stroke unit equipped with mobile CT and able to administer tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) were more likely to receive it within the first “golden hour” and had better functional outcomes at 90 days compared with patients taken to the hospital in a standard ambulance, James Grotta, MD (Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center, Houston), reported.
(UPDATED) There is no difference in in-hospital outcomes or longer-term mortality between patients undergoing revascularization with either a durable-polymer DES or newer technology with a bioabsorbable polymer, according to the results of a retrospective analysis.
Among more than 53,000 consecutive PCIs performed between 2015 and 2018 in Michigan, researchers found there was no difference in the risk of in-hospital mortality or stent thrombosis between patients who received the bioabsorbable-polymer everolimus-eluting stent (Synergy; Boston Scientific) and those treated with either the durable-polymer everolimus-eluting stent (Xience; Abbott Vascular) or the durable-polymer zotarolimus-eluting stent (Resolute; Medtronic).
Importantly, at 2 years, there was also no significant difference in the risk of death between the stent groups.
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NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 18, 2021) A new study from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found that suicide mortality can be reduced by a Federally coordinated approach employing scientifically proven options.
Columbia researchers J. John Mann, MD, Christina A. Michel, MA, and Randy P. Auerbach, PhD, conducted a systematic review, determining which suicide prevention strategies work and are scalable to national levels.
The study, Improving Suicide Prevention Through Evidence-Based
Strategies: A Systematic Review, was published online in the
American Journal of Psychiatry.
The researchers found that screening school children or the general population for those at risk for suicide the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. with 48,344 suicide deaths in 2018 have generally not reduced suicide rates.