CMS's bundled payment initiative hasn't saved the agency any money or improved quality of care in cardiovascular surgery, although most other diagnostic episode groups have shown advantages with this voluntary program. (Modern Healthcare)
The agency granted add-on payment for the Excluder iliac branch endoprosthesis as a new technology for treating endovascular aneurysms, to start Oct. 1. (Endovascular Today)
CareDx said it's (again) protesting the 32% reduction in Medicare reimbursement proposed for its AlloMap blood test for heart transplant rejection.
A new oral solution form of enalapril (Epaned) was approved by the FDA to treat hypertension. The liquid form of the drug has been available as a powder for reconstitution.
A novel type of hypertension treatment, the brain aminopeptidase A inhibitor QGC001, passed another early hurdle showing ambulatory blood pressure reductions and is headed to phase II trials. (EconoTimes)
The FDA also cleared the TrailBlazer angled support catheter for peripheral artery disease. (DOTmed)
The Inspiris Resilia surgical aortic valve, which features tissue flaps apparently less prone to calcification and technology to support future valve-in-valve procedures, was cleared for use in Europe. (MassDevice)
Three children who got a novel bioabsorbable pulmonary heart valve are all doing well, according to feasibility study findings reported at the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery meeting. (The Vanguard)
Drug eluting stents shouldn't all be priced the same, the Cardiological Society of India said in a letter to the health ministry aiming to set fixed costs for various devices in the developing nation. (Economic Times, Times of India)
Why it's harder to get back on the professional basketball court after a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis than a concussion -- STAT News has the story.
A meta-analysis of trials in low- to intermediate-surgical risk patients with severe aortic stenosis showed transfemoral but not transapical catheter-based valve replacement to be safer overall than surgery. (The BMJ)
Low-dose edoxaban (Lixiana) was safer than warfarin for prevention in Asian patients with venous thromboembolism, a subanalysis of the Hokusai-VTE trial showed. The findings follow a Taiwanese registry report that other non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOAC) were superior to warfarin in atrial fibrillation in a reduced dose, which was used for about 90% of all patients there.
Amgen is teaming up with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to develop gene-silencing therapies for heart disease. (Reuters)
A national program for emergency dispatchers to give CPR instructions in Korea improved cardiac arrest neurologic outcomes. (Annals of Emergency Medicine)