News Archive

Hospitals that perform the highest volume of transcatheter-aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures have significantly lower mortality rates than centers that do fewer of the minimally invasive surgeries, according to an analysis by a collaboration that included the DCRI. The finding, published April 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is reconsidering the procedure’s coverage parameters, which established a center’s volume as a key criterion for reimbursement.

Despite national guidelines indicating that statins can lower risk of heart attack and stroke, many patients who could benefit do not take them.

While most Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have committed to continue participating in the recently overhauled flagship Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), physician-led ACOS are leaving at a higher rate than in 2017, new research from the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Leavitt Partners shows. Highlights of this research were published this month in Health Affairs. The DCRI’s Donald Taylor, PhD, is one of the study’s authors.

When comparing ischemic endpoints, no significant difference was found between patients who received ticagrelor and patients who received clopidogrel.

Most atrial fibrillation patients with comorbidities do not receive all the guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMT) they are eligible for, but new evidence from the DCRI suggests use of these therapies is associated with better outcomes in populations with certain comorbidities.

In a finding that suggests less is more, researchers led by the DCRI found that the drugs apixaban and clopidogrel — without aspirin — comprise the safest treatment regimen for certain patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The finding, which applies specifically to patients with AF who have had a heart attack and/or are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, should reassure clinicians and patients that dropping aspirin results in no significant increase in ischemic events such as heart attacks, strokes and blood clots.

One-year follow-up results show that a newer, non-invasive technology to evaluate heart pain provided a reliable way to identify which patients had dangerous artery blockages, according to a study co-led by the DCRI. The findings, reported Sunday at the annual College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans, suggest that fractional flow reserve CT (FFR-CT) scans are effective in helping doctors determine which patients need more aggressive treatments.

Starting heart failure patients on the compound sacubitril/valsartan instead of enalapril after they have been discharged from the hospital led to an improvement in biomarkers of heart stress, according to a study led by the DCRI. The finding, from an additional analysis of a study called PIONEER-HF, described changes in a heart failure biomarker called NT-proBNP when switching from enalapril to sacubitril/valsartan.

Care for older adults with heart failure can be optimized using a four-domain framework including medical, mind, physical function, and social environment. About 5.7 million adults in the United States and at least 26 million worldwide have heart failure. Heart failure is the number one cause of hospitalization in older adults, accounting for $123 billion per year in Medicare spending.

New research shows that although racial disparities have diminished in recent years, gender disparities are still common.