Educating the MACRA-Ready Cardiologist

Ready, Set, Go: Helping Physicians Move to Value as MACRA Begins.

Passed with the broad bipartisan support of Congress in 2015, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) will bring about comprehensive changes to how Medicare pays for physician services. MACRA aims to accelerate the transformation from fee-for-service payment to alternative payment models that require physicians to assume risk for the cost and quality of care. Given the nation’s...

Should We Fear the Unintended Consequences of MACRA?

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is upon us. Almost. Beginning this month, our quality performance in 2017 will affect our payments under MACRA when it officially launches in 2019. In this issue (page 12), Amy Mullins, MD, outlines the mind-numbing complexity of the two MACRA payment tracks, called the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternativ...

A cardiologist in the carotids.

Carotid endarterectomy for stroke prevention has been the standard of care for 50 years in patients with extra-cranial carotid bifurcation disease. Over the past decade, carotid stenting has emerged as a viable alternative to surgery. Combined with filter embolic protection devices, both a randomized control trial (Stenting and Angioplasty with Protection in Patients at High Risk for Endarterec...

President’s Page: The Importance of the Cardiologist

Educating the Gifted.

The very subject of giftedness is fraught with contradiction and controversy. On the one hand, we often encounter misunderstanding, envy, and perceived elitism—and on the other, admiration, dependency, and respect. Little wonder that our K–12 education system has not yet determined how best to nurture extraordinary individuals so that they can become extraordinary contributors to society—and fe...