Massachusetts is often held up as a window into America's health insurance future, because it embarked on what came to be called the Romneycare reform six years ago. Like the Affordable Care Act provisions going into effect nationwide next year, Romneycare aimed to increase the fraction of the population with health insurance by imposing mandates on employers and employees and by subsidizing health insurance plans for middle-class families without employer plans.
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Even though patients receiving an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator for primary prevention often receive a dual-chamber ICD, an analysis that included more than 32,000 patients receiving an ICD without indications for pacing finds that the use of a dual-chamber device compared with a single-chamber device was associated with a higher risk of device-related complications and similar 1-year mortality and hospitalization outcomes, according to a study in the May 15 issue of JAMA.
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Use of TYRX, Inc.'s AIGISRx- Antibacterial Envelope reduced major infection rates by more than 90% in patients undergoing Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Device replacement procedures compared to similar high-risk cohorts, according to the CITADEL & CENTURION clinical study results presented on Saturday at the Late Breaking Clinical Trials session at Heart Rhythm 2013, the Heart Rhythm Society's 34th Annual Scientific Sessions.
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A new Canadian study shows that operating without interrupting warfarin treatment at the time of cardiac device surgery is safe and markedly reduces the incidence of clinically significant hematomas compared to the current standard of care.
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BIOTRONIK, a leading manufacturer of cardiovascular medical technology, announced that the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for its Ilesto 7 implantable cardioverter-defibrillator/cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator series.
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Electrophysiology (EP) clinical teams require a unique set of technologies to perform accurate and safe exams. Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. offers these clinicians an InfinixTM-i cardiovascular X-ray system tailored for EP procedures with a new package of features, accessories and technologies. This package maximizes room utilization, improves workflow and enhances safety.
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Prompt use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, can greatly increase the survival rates of people who suffer a cardiac arrest.
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Prompt use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, can greatly increase the survival rates of people who suffer a cardiac arrest. And MIE Professor Tim Chan, working with Dr. Laurie Morrison at St. Michael's Hospital, has developed a formula to determine where best to place these costly but life-saving devices.
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Use of biventricular rather than conventional right ventricular pacing results in better clinical outcomes in patients who have heart failure with atrioventricular block and left ventricular systolic dysfunction, show the results of BLOCK HF.
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Progress on curbing the leading killer of athletes-sudden cardiac death-by spotting heart problems early, has been slow. But the development of a series of online tutorials for sports and cardiology doctors looks set to reverse this trend.
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Doctors at UCSF Medical Center implanted a new cardiac defibrillator that uses a single-lead to sense vital changes in the heart rhythm on March 14, 2013, becoming one of the first heart centers in Northern California to perform this procedure.
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A raft of lawsuits filed Thursday against St. Jude Medical Inc. over an implanted heart device could challenge the broad liability protection that medical-device makers have enjoyed since a key Supreme Court ruling in 2008.
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Today's headlines include reports about how President Barack Obama's budget proposal -- to be released next week -- will handle Medicare and Medicaid.
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One of the leading causes of death in the United States is sudden cardiac arrest, which claims the lives of more than 325,000 people each year. In a study published in the April issue of the journal Resuscitation, Beaumont doctors found that cardiac arrests in K-12 schools are extremely rare, less than 0.2 percent, but out of 47 people who experienced cardiac arrest over a six-year period at K-12 schools, only 15 survived.
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For the first time, a UCLA team has used a technique normally employed in treating brain aneurysms to treat severe, life-threatening irregular heart rhythms in two patients.
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Policy and practice changes by healthcare institutions, providers and others could greatly improve medical care and improve survival for people who have a sudden cardiac arrest in the hospital, according to an American Heart Association consensus statement in its journal, Circulation.
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Even minor weight loss is associated with worse health outcomes among patients implanted with a certain type of defibrillator known as cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D), according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.
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Among patients with coronary artery disease referred for cardiovascular magnetic resonance and found to have regional myocardial wall thinning (of the heart muscle), limited scar burden was associated with improved contraction of the heart and reversal of wall thinning after revascularization, suggesting that myocardial thinning is potentially reversible, according to a study appearing in the March 6 issue of JAMA.
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Johns Hopkins' John Wong, Ph.D., has won a BioMaryland LIFE Award, and Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., and Hien Nguyen, M.D., were awarded funds from the Abell Foundation, the researchers learned last week. Each of the winners will receive $50,000 to help develop their discoveries for clinical use.
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BIOTRONIK, a leading manufacturer of cardiovascular medical technology, announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted final approval for the BIOTRONIK Lumax 740 DX System.
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