A new initiative by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is now ranking all American hospitals and posting the results of treatments for heart failure and heart attacks. The move is a natural one in the increasingly high-tech world of medicine. Currently, results are available for more than 4700 different institutions.

Not only does the study allow patients of various hospitals to see how theirs stacks up against the competition, it also allows researchers previously unattainable access to medical statistics broken down both by region and specific hospitals. Think of it as Consumer Reports for the cardiac arrest set.

A link to the study is available right here. A recent post in The Cardio Blog also mentioned that the group responsible for conducting the study have also offered help to institutions ranked poorly on the study. They also quote Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S DHHS, saying that the move is a natural step “because for most of its history, Medicare has been paying for services, but not paying for results.”

Reuters News Agency released some further information about the study and detailed some of the actual results of the study. According to Reuters, “just seven hospitals were rated worse-than-average for death rates following a heart attack, while 17 were rated better-than- average,” while, “In heart failure, 38 hospitals scored a top rating, while 35 scored a worse-than-average for that measure.”

The study also details results for over 30 different elective hospital procedures. Not only is this a big step in giving people more information with which to educate themselves on the quality of service at their regional medical facilities, but it will also provide some tremendously interesting data once it is aggregated and analyzed over the course of several years.

Will giving consumers more access to healthcare information result in better healthcare itself? Only time will tell.

An elite British medical team is currently undertaking a new study that could represent an earth-shattering change in the way we treat heart attacks survivors. The plan involves the application of stem cells injected directly into damaged areas of a patients heart tissue that has been damaged from a previous heart attack or cardiac arrest. The scientists hope that the tissue will effectively regenerate.

While any procedure involving the use of stem-cells is sure to be controversial, the use of stem cells for medical research is legal and regulated in Britain. In fact, according to a recent post in the health blog A Hearty Life, there is research currently being undertaken in Britain combining stem cells with treatments for both diabetes and Parkinson’s.

The post also quotes one of the lead researchers on the project, a Dr. Ascione as saying, “one in three people will die within two or three years and the remaining people will have a very poor quality of life,” said Dr Ascione. “Your exercise tolerance will be very poor, you will not to be able to enjoy your life. If this [experiment] works you will minimize this … the point of this trial is to do the bypass and try to repair the scar, to make it a viable muscle again.”

Anybody who pays close attention to heart-related stories would probably know that this isn’t the first time that hearts and stem cells have crossed paths. A recent post in Dr Wes’ blog detailed some of the findings of a study where heart valves were grown from stem cells harvested from bone marrow. “The scientists first coaxed stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow into heart valve cells by using chemical and physical nudges. Then, by placing these cells into scaffolds made of collagen, they grew small 3cm wide discs of heart valve tissue. Later this year the tissue will be implanted into animals – probably sheep or pigs – and monitored to see how well it works as part of a circulatory system.”

The process of growing heart tissue from bone marrow is to be repeated in the British study, but it represents the first time that the process will be conducted on actual human tissue. Regardless of where you stand in the stem cell debate, hearing about news like this does add a certain element of excitement to the air. Could you imagine if heart attack survivors could regenerate their heart tissue and maintain the quality of life they had before their heart attack? Exciting times.

NUMEROUS ACADEMIC STUDIES CONFIRM REMOTE DIGITAL MONITORING IS THE FUTURE OF PREVENTATIVE HEALTHCARE

The results of several different studies have offered conclusive proof that remote monitoring for heart patients significantly improves survival rates. The studies, released in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, correspond with the classical medical maxim that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The British Journal of Sports Medicine study focuses on the potential impact of wireless digital monitoring to track heart rates and other medical information, all in real time. While admitting that the industry is in its infancy, it offers several examples of how wireless digital monitoring is helping to increase the performance of top-level athletes. The authors of the study recognize the fact that this prohibitively expensive technology, is being used predominantly by universities, medical experts and top athletes.

While acknowledging that remote digital monitoring has the possibility to connect with general consumers, the BJSM study is most excited about its effect in the world of medical research and health science. The authors stated, “the broad range of research that health and sports monitoring encompasses would benefit enormously from this ability to collect data unobtrusively and without hindering movement or performance,” before concluding, “Utilization of their full capabilities could allow many health- and sports-monitoring research areas to step into a new territory previously fenced off by wires.”

The second major study, recently released by the International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, reveals a world of possibilities for at-home electronic digital monitoring. Having released an entire issue specifically related to Integrating Mobility into the Healthcare Sector: the Next Generation of Mobile Health Applications, the IJEH demonstrates a firm belief that this growing sector of the medical field can improve the health, heart and lifestyle of its practitioners.

One of their studies outlines a hypothetical product combining digital monitoring with the ease-of-use of television and the Internet. “In this paper, we describe the development of an Internet-based system and a novel mobile home based device for the management of medication. We extend these concepts through the descriptions of an enhanced service with the use of mobile phone technology and home based digital TV services.”

Clearly, this distinguished group of medical experts is convinced that remote digital monitoring will not only help save the lives of patients, but will improve the quality and efficiency of service to the point where regular taxpayers could notice a lighter tab come tax-time. “The proposed system has the potential to improve patients’ quality of life by allowing them to move around freely while undergoing continuous heart monitoring and to reduce healthcare costs associated with prolonged hospitalisation, treatment and monitoring.”

The world of medical blogs, an invaluable information tool, are also demonstrating their agreement with these two studies. MedGadget, a blog chronicling digital advances in the medical health industry, confirms its belief that remote heart monitoring improves survival rates reporting that “a joint Canadian and Australian study revealed that remote monitoring for heart patients improved survival rates by a full 20%.”

Another widely-praised source of medical news is ScienceDaily. They quoted the same study as MedGadget, reports that “the use of remote monitoring for patients with chronic heart failure has the potential to significantly improve clinical outcomes (mortality, morbidity and quality indicators).” The authors of the post attribute the potential success of remote monitoring to the fact that, “permits closer follow-up of patients with heart failure, this allows for the potential for earlier detection and management of changes in a patient’s health.”

The exciting worlds of technology and medicine make for lifesaving bedfellows. Concepts in Orthopedic and Sports Rehab, another well-respect blog, considers the concept of remote monitoring to have massive potential for success, “technology and healthcare are merging at a rapid pace. I think we will continue to see more wireless technologies in healthcare in providing improved and more efficient patient care and record storage.”

HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY TERRIFIED OF MICHAEL MOORE’S NEW FILM, SICKO

It is common knowledge that Michael Moore is one of the most polarizing filmmakers in history. After a three-year hiatus, Moore has set his sights on exposing the hypocrisy and unfairness he sees in America’s Health-care Industry. No stranger to controversy, Moore is in the process of picking a fight with America’s HMOs and insurers. “There’s no getting around the fact that people are dying in this country as a result of the decisions that get made by these health insurance companies” said Moore in a recent interview with Terry Moran of NBC’s Nightline.

After receiving a standing ovation for its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, Moore has been busy promoting his film all over television and the Internet. The film has provoked a massive level of debate within the health-care industry itself and the effect is being felt in a variety of different medical blogs.

A majority of heart-related blogs seem to be in favor of the film. The Antidote, a blog priding itself on offering counterspin in the healthcare industry, declared itself in full support of Moore’s documentary on the basis that it is a great way to get grassroots Americans caring about the healthcare, “raising the issues in a popular/populist format such as this is exactly the kind of exposure the topic needs to set the ball rolling.”

The Schwitzer News Health Blog, based out of the University of Minnesota, contained details of an investigation into the making of the film by the U.S Treasury Department. The blog offered a brief explanation of what the investigation is all about, “it involves Moore’s team taking some sick Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for one segment in the film.” They also quote Moore, from a letter posted on his website, rejecting the investigation and using it as a testament to just how frightened the health care establishment is over this film, “they have threatened their employees if they talk to me. They have set up special internal crises lines should I show up at their headquarters. Employees have been warned about the consequences of participating in Sicko.”

Kevin M.D, a respected blog by a leading physician, quoted the president of the American Medical Association, Dr. William Plested; commenting on Moore’s film, “anything—including a film—that can bring this issue into the public eye is good for the debate. So, I’m cheering on Michael Moore, even though I haven’t seen the film.”

Judging from his past record Kevin M.D is not a personal fan of Moore’s work and does not plan to see the film. His post declares Moore and Plested to be “strange bedfellows.”He also provides a link to an anti-Moore blog post by columnist Rich Tucker.

Tucker ends his post by stating, “these documentaries aim to frighten us, when there’s really nothing to fear. If we want to reform health care, we should harness the free market, not lash everyone into a government-run system.”

Whether Kevin M.D and Rich Tucker represent the majority of the American public remains to be seen. In an era of “anything-goes” health care, people have learned that their government is not necessarily looking out for their best interests. Because of this fact, many concerned Americans have turned towards the world of preventative care and digital monitoring. One of the best ways to lower the average Americans dependency on the health care system is to monitor one’s health so that potential medical emergencies can be predicted and avoided.

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