While an operating room (OR) that is used too little represents lost revenue for the hospital, an OR that’s used too much leads to overtime costs when cases go over schedule. This has cardiovascular service line leaders searching for a balance—much like Goldilocks—that’s just right.

Prolonged post-operative ventilation times drive costs higher and have an adverse effect on patient outcomes. But even with improvements in technology and care pathways, variation in vent times still plagues service line leaders.

Though numerous studies have demonstrated that early extubation within six to eight hours of cardiothoracic surgery can be a safe way of eliminating unnecessary costs and even improving quality, this opportunity is often missed, according to a report in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS). 

Although 90-95 percent of cardiac catheterizations in the U.S. are performed through the femoral artery, radial access has been found to be a safer, faster, more comfortable, and more cost-efficient approach.

Here are some of the reasons why providers should consider switching to radial access in their quest for the Triple Aim—better patient satisfaction, improved care and lower costs.

Retrospective clinical data is essential in the quest to improve outcomes and contain costs, but even more valuable is integrated, near real-time data analytics that illustrate how you compare to other cardiac care centers nationally.

​U.S. hospitals highly value enhanced cardiovascular registries data collection as they look for ways to improve patient care, workflow and reporting requirements. To that end, LUMEDX and DASpecialists have announced a partnership to create solutions for cardiovascular data management for hospitals.

​Although much progress has been achieved in digitizing the healthcare system, today's health IT infrastructure still struggles to support a transition to "value-based care," according to a new report from the American Medical Informatics Association.

Registries continue to improve the effectiveness and safety of patient care of heart disease in hospitals throughout the United States.

Electronic Health Records are essential tools for healthcare organizations. But they don't obviate the need for a Cardiovascular Information System (CVIS). In fact, changing payment models, new government mandates, and evolving care practices are making the CVIS more important than ever.

Join LUMEDX and more than 1,500 registry professionals, quality experts, cardiovascular administrators and physician from across the country at the NCDR Annual Conference next week. LUMEDX will be at Booth 5 -- stop by and say hi!

New research shows that U.S. hospitals could save $300 million annually--and see fewer complications--if they use transradial access for percutaneous coronary interventions, and release patients on the same day.