Heart Matters

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Geoffrey Ginsburg, MD, PhD Patient-centered care is a hot topic in health care these days, though usually when we think of patient-centeredness, our thinking tilts toward aspects of policymaking or system delivery. Host Dr. Janet Wright takes a look at the science side of patient-centered care — the more precise tailoring of therapy known as personalized medicine — wi...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Geoffrey Ginsburg, MD, PhD Patient-centered care is a hot topic in health care these days, though usually when we think of patient-centeredness, our thinking tilts toward aspects of policymaking or system delivery. Host Dr. Janet Wright takes a look at the science side of patient-centered care — the more precise tailoring of therapy known as personalized medicine — wi...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: John Alexander, MD, MHS One of the reported benefits of endoscopic vein harvesting is a lower risk of wound complications following coronary bypass grafting, though it has yet to be established that long-term clinical outcomes for this technique are superior to those achieved using open harvesting under direct vision. New findings suggest a need to weigh short-term be...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: John Alexander, MD, MHS One of the reported benefits of endoscopic vein harvesting is a lower risk of wound complications following coronary bypass grafting, though it has yet to be established that long-term clinical outcomes for this technique are superior to those achieved using open harvesting under direct vision. New findings suggest a need to weigh short-term be...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: David Sabgir, MD Sometimes there is nothing more pleasant than a simple walk in the park. Encouraging your patients to take an easy stroll may also be an easy way to improve their cardiovascular health. Many of us have talked many times with our patients about the benefits of a regular exercise program, and yet this talk therapy may not be achieving the desired result...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: David Sabgir, MD Sometimes there is nothing more pleasant than a simple walk in the park. Encouraging your patients to take an easy stroll may also be an easy way to improve their cardiovascular health. Many of us have talked many times with our patients about the benefits of a regular exercise program, and yet this talk therapy may not be achieving the desired result...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: John Rumsfeld, MD, PhD So much of our clinical interaction with patients revolves around the collection, analysis and application of information. On a much broader scale, data registries work to assemble the information from each and every one of these clinical encounters. In this age of information, there is so much data at our fingertips, it is easy to be excited abou...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: John Rumsfeld, MD, PhD So much of our clinical interaction with patients revolves around the collection, analysis and application of information. On a much broader scale, data registries work to assemble the information from each and every one of these clinical encounters. In this age of information, there is so much data at our fingertips, it is easy to be excited abou...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Glenn Steele, MD, PhD At some point during the health reform debate, you've probably heard President Obama and others recognize the work of the Geisinger Health System. Through a variety of mechanisms -- among others, charging a flat fee for certain surgical procedures and other high-volume episodes of care, and working hard to integrate services -- Geisinger has been a...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Glenn Steele, MD, PhD At some point during the health reform debate, you've probably heard President Obama and others recognize the work of the Geisinger Health System. Through a variety of mechanisms -- among others, charging a flat fee for certain surgical procedures and other high-volume episodes of care, and working hard to integrate services -- Geisinger has been a...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Stefan Jovinge, MD, PhD A growing body of evidence tells us human cardiomyocytes are capable of endogenous regeneration. The concept has been debated in medicine for some time, but as more data accumulate behind this theory, it is very tempting to think about novel treatment strategies. Dr. Stefan Jovinge, director of the cardiovascular group at the Lund Stem Cell Cen...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Stefan Jovinge, MD, PhD A growing body of evidence tells us human cardiomyocytes are capable of endogenous regeneration. The concept has been debated in medicine for some time, but as more data accumulate behind this theory, it is very tempting to think about novel treatment strategies. Dr. Stefan Jovinge, director of the cardiovascular group at the Lund Stem Cell Cen...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: William Kannel, MD, MPH Sixty years ago, a group of investigators began an ambitious research project in Framingham, Massachusetts. At the time, we didn't know smoking increased the risk of heart disease. We didn't understand that high cholesterol and hypertension were risk factors for cardiovascular conditions, and we hadn't identified the respective risks and benefi...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: William Kannel, MD, MPH Sixty years ago, a group of investigators began an ambitious research project in Framingham, Massachusetts. At the time, we didn't know smoking increased the risk of heart disease. We didn't understand that high cholesterol and hypertension were risk factors for cardiovascular conditions, and we hadn't identified the respective risks and benefi...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Sean Tunis, MD, MSc The Institute of Medicine recently released a list of 100 priority topics for comparative effectiveness research. The first topic on the first page of the report calls for an evaluation of treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation, from surgery or catheter ablation, to pharmacologic therapy. How do we design research to produce an accurate compari...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Sean Tunis, MD, MSc The Institute of Medicine recently released a list of 100 priority topics for comparative effectiveness research. The first topic on the first page of the report calls for an evaluation of treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation, from surgery or catheter ablation, to pharmacologic therapy. How do we design research to produce an accurate compari...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Karen Davis, PhD The concept of the accountable care organization (ACO) has many things going for it, not the least of which is its name: certainly any entity for care that can encourage more accountability and organization would seem to be something which we can incorporate into our reform movement. But there's more to an ACO than just the name: why might these groups...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Karen Davis, PhD The concept of the accountable care organization (ACO) has many things going for it, not the least of which is its name: certainly any entity for care that can encourage more accountability and organization would seem to be something which we can incorporate into our reform movement. But there's more to an ACO than just the name: why might these groups...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Peggy O'Kane As the debate for health system reform heats up in Washington, we're going to take a break to focus on quality: how to achieve it, how to measure it and how to maintain it. In order to meet these objectives, there are a range of options that would either reward or punish those of us practicing in an attempt to achieve higher levels of quality. Host D...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Peggy O'Kane As the debate for health system reform heats up in Washington, we're going to take a break to focus on quality: how to achieve it, how to measure it and how to maintain it. In order to meet these objectives, there are a range of options that would either reward or punish those of us practicing in an attempt to achieve higher levels of quality. Host D...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Mostafa Youssef, MD This week on Heart Matters , we'll explore the terrain of cardiovascular care in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with one of the country's leading experts, Dr. Mostafa Youssef, founding director of the Prince Salman Heart Center at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh. It is a country with vast cultural differences compared to the Western world, and yet w...

Host: Janet Wright, MD Guest: Mostafa Youssef, MD This week on Heart Matters , we'll explore the terrain of cardiovascular care in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with one of the country's leading experts, Dr. Mostafa Youssef, founding director of the Prince Salman Heart Center at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh. It is a country with vast cultural differences compared to the Western world, and yet w...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Kim Belshé, MPP California is the largest state in our union. Bigger than a host of nations in many ways, from population to gross domestic product, its sheer size is one of many reasons why the state's health care system is under duress. Despite the state's budget woes, California is one the few states in our union to take significant steps toward health care reform. A...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Kim Belshé, MPP California is the largest state in our union. Bigger than a host of nations in many ways, from population to gross domestic product, its sheer size is one of many reasons why the state's health care system is under duress. Despite the state's budget woes, California is one the few states in our union to take significant steps toward health care reform. A...

Host: Jack Lewin, MD Guest: Harlan Krumholz, MD The transition from inpatient to outpatient status is a vulnerable spot in our health care system: more than one in four patients with congestive heart failure are back in the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and readmission rates for a host of other conditions are above 20 percent. The right improvements during this transition phase could have...