Posts Tagged ‘cardiac’
Newborn Congenital Heart Disease Screening Requirements
In 2011 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius approved adding CCHD (critical congenital heart disease) [...] Read More »
CMS Ruling Equals 11% increase for ICDs
Good news for providers of cardiac resynchronization therapy services! In late 2011 CMS proposed combining APC 0108 (Insertion of Cardioverter-Defibrillator [...] Read More »
Cardiac PET Reimbursement Takes a Hit
A few months ago, I read in the Federal Registry that Cardiac PET studies will see a 23% cut in reimbursement for 2011. This looks pretty dramatic but one thing to consider is that in 2010, Cardiac PET studies saw a 20% increase. It is this kind of unpredictability the makes it hard for a CFO to project a budget. Is it just a readjustment by CMS or is there another reason for the change? Read More »
First, there was a three-armed surgical robot. Then, an orthopedic robot came along. Whats next? A robotic snake? As a matter of fact, yes. Think about being able to reach just about any region of the body with one incision. Cardiorobotics was first founded in 2005 and is developing the cardioARM, a snake robot for minimally-invasive cardiac interventions, such as treatments for patients suffering with heart arrhythmias. With the 10mm diameter computer-controlled device that allows for 105 degrees of freedom, a lot can be achieved. Read More »
Robotics Take a New Turn…Literally
First, there was a three-armed surgical robot. Then, an orthopedic robot came along. What�s next? A robotic snake? As a matter of fact, yes. Think about being able to reach just about any region of the body with one incision. Cardiorobotics was first founded in 2005 and is developing the cardioARM�, �a snake robot for minimally-invasive cardiac interventions, such as treatments for patients suffering with heart arrhythmias.� With the 10mm diameter computer-controlled device that allows for 105 degrees of freedom, a lot can be achieved. Read More »
High Value in Coronary CT Angiography
For years, the gold standard for diagnosing chest pain has been a cath lab procedure. However, along with being invasive and costly, it is a time-consuming procedure. Coronary CT angiography has been an evolving technology for years. Early 8- and 16-slice systems offered limited ability to produce high diagnostic quality images due to motion artifacts from natural movement of the heart. The new generation of 64-slice (with ECG gating) technology has allowed coronary CT angiography systems to overcome motion artifacts and, thus, become highly accurate in ruling out the narrowing of the coronary arteries. Read More »