Hospitals and other medical facilities across the state of Washington will receive $1 million in grant money allocated for implementing and upgrading their information technology. The Washington Health Information Collaborative, a public-private partnership based in Seattle, is awarding grants of up to $20,000 to 49 small hospitals, community clinics and physician practices to spend on electronic health records and other computerized patient management systems.

Results from the Phase II MEND-CABG study — which looked at demonstrated the clinical benefits of MC-1 in reducing cardiovascular events in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery — will be presented during the 2006 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA), to be held Nov. 12-15, 2006 in Chicago.

Boston Scientific has launched new software enabling its Left Ventricular (LV) Offset feature in the CONTAK RENEWAL, RENEWAL 3, and RENEWAL 3 RF cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D). LV Offset allows physicians to further fine-tune synchronization of the heart by allowing adjustment of the delay between right and left ventricular pacing, which helps physicians provide more tailored care for heart failure patients.

November 2006 - Physicians at UT Southwestern Medical Center are part of a multinational clinical trial evaluating the Optimizer System, a unique implantable device designed to treat a larger number of patients with heart failure.

UT Southwestern is one of the top enrolling centers of the 50 sites in the U.S.

A new cooling pad enters the healthcare market, joining a growing number of cooling systems used to induce hypothermia in some emergency cardiac arrest scenarios — the new treatment attempts to halt potential brain damage in cardiac patients. Life Recovery Systems HD, Alexandria, LA, will introduce its ThermoSuit at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in Chicago Nov. 12-15.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital now offers a new alternative therapy for heart failure patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. Concerto and Virtuoso implantable defibrillators-pacemakers from Medtronic will help keep the beat for patients whose heart electrical impulses for controlling chamber contractions are impaired.

A new alternative to invasive, painful biopsies for determining heart transplant rejection is both available and reimbursable. The molecular expression test molecular expression test is a non-invasive alternative to biopsy that is safe, effective, quantitative, and reproducible with predictive capabilities biopsy does not provide. The test provides physicians with a broader clinical picture, enabling them to identify patients at low risk for current and future rejection.

Well-known cardiologist Eric Topol has been appointed by Scripps Health in San Diego, CA, to lead a new institute to research genetic causes of heart and other diseases.

Dr. Topol is the former chairman of Cleveland Clinic's cardiovascular medicine, an institution which he is credited for having made a global leader in cardiac care during his 15-year tenure.

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology is inviting organizations to submit their ambulatory electronic health-record products for possible certification during the next application period, running Nov. 1-14. The application period marks the launch of CCHIT certification of ambulatory EHRs internally developed by physician practices, hospitals and health systems.

The names of products receiving certification during this period are tentatively scheduled to be announced Feb. 1.

A large California-based study has shown that patients with heart failure who start taking statins, compared with those who don't, will live longer and have a lower hospitalization risk regardless of cholesterol levels, presence or absence of coronary disease, and other CV drug therapies, “Heartwire” reported this week.

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