Two Decades of Declining Medicare Reimbursement in Cardiac Surgery.

Background: Given the uncertainty of US health care finances, an understanding of reimbursement trends has become increasingly important in the field of cardiac surgery. We aimed to assess Medicare reimbursement trends for common cardiac surgical procedures from 2000 to 2022.

Methods: Reimbursement data were extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool during the study period for 6 common cardiac operations: aortic valve replacement, mitral valve repair and replacement, tricuspid valve replacement, Bentall procedure, and coronary artery bypass grafting.

Reintervention and mortality risk after total anomalous pulmonary venous connection repair.

Background: Management of total anomalous pulmonary venous connections has been extensively studied to further improve outcomes. Our institution previously reported factors associated with mortality, recurrent obstruction, and reintervention. The study purpose was to revisit the cohort of patients and evaluate factors associated with reintervention, and mortality in early and late follow-up.