Comparison of Rate of Utilization of Medicare Services in Private Versus Academic Cardiology Practice.

Cardiovascular services are the third largest source of Medicare spending. We examined the rate of cardiovascular service utilization in the community of Glendale, CA, compared with the nearest academic medical center, the University of Southern California. Publicly available utilization data released by Medicare for the years 2012 and 2013 were used to identify all inpatient and outpatient cardiology services provided in each practice setting.

Confidential testing of cardiac examination competency in cardiology and noncardiology faculty and trainees: a multicenter study.

Background: Many reported studies of medical trainees and physicians have demonstrated major deficiencies in correctly identifying heart sounds and murmurs, but cardiologists had not been tested. We previously confirmed these deficiencies using a 50-question multimedia cardiac examination (CE) test featuring video vignettes of patients with auscultatory and visible manifestations of cardiovascular pathology (virtual cardiac patients). Previous testing of 62 internal medical faculty yielded scores no better than those of medical students and residents.

Developing pulmonary vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis, detected with non-invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

Background: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may develop exercise intolerance due to musculoskeletal involvement, restrictive lung disease, left ventricular dysfunction, or pulmonary vasculopathy (PV). The latter is particularly important since it may lead to lethal pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We hypothesized that abnormalities during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in patients with SSc can identify PV leading to overt PAH.

Outcomes of acute myocardial infarction in nonagenarians.

To evaluate survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in nonagenarians, we conducted a retrospective chart review of 177 consecutive patients > or =90 years of age admitted from 2000 to 2006 with a primary diagnosis of AMI confirmed by peak troponin I > or =1.5 microg/L. Mean follow-up was 3.