A study shows that coronary artery calcium (CAC) screening, an assessment tool that is not currently recommended for people considered at low risk, should play a more prominent role in helping determine a person’s risk for heart attack and heart disease-related death, as well as the need for angioplasty or bypass surgery.

It was not until we began planning that we realized just how involved TAVR programs are — they require much more work than we originally anticipated. At Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC), our TAVR program started as part of a research project in our structural heart department. It was an opportunity to offer advanced patient care and determine the effectiveness of TAVR on patients experiencing severe aortic stenosis, who were deemed inoperable by two cardiac surgeons.

Careful documentation of patient selection and procedure appropriateness are critical — yet underutilized — steps in ensuring high-quality clinical care for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Following public comment received in the fall of 2013, The Joint Commission has released new accreditation standards for diagnostic imaging services. Nearly all of these new standard Elements of Performance (EP) are slated to become effective in a half-year.