Adam Hochron

As value based care becomes a buzz word in the medical industry doctors are learning what it means for their practice and how they can utilize it while still applying the same level of attention to their patients as they did in the past.

A lot has changed in cardiology over time and there is even more change ahead. How doctors handle that change can determine how successful they are in their practice.

As technology improves telemedicine is becoming a more viable option to treat a wide variety of conditions. While the idea of telemedicine can be easily implemented into practice there are still concerns that need to be addressed for the field to progress. These issues can include liability and governance over doctors and where their patients are located.

In the time since Florence Nightingale first developed the profession of nursing as it is known today a lot has changed for the men and women in the field. Even still the work they do has been a key part of the medical world as training has increased and improved as well.

There are many challenges to heart health no matter where you live but there are small steps that can make a big difference in the long run.

Representing two of the major conferences in the cardiac world the American College of Cardiology and the European Society of Cardiology have found ways to work together to help patients on both sides of the Atlantic.

As with all cardiac intervention procedures there are risks for the patients. However, working in consultation with doctors the results can be minimized to provide the best level of care.

The MANTRA-PAF trial, A study looking at a treatment for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation reached its five year follow-up mark and the results were shared at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress to see whether surgical or pharmaceutical treatment was better for patients.

The benefits of naps for young children have been well established and utilized for many years. A recent study looked at whether taking a nap in the middle of the day could help hypertensive adults better manage their condition.

While PCSK9 inhibitors have been shown to help patients lower their cholesterol levels, there are still questions about potential side effects as well as when and how the medication will be made affordable and available to patients.

It was less than two decades ago that researchers uncovered the role of PCSK9 in a person's body. In just the past few months two new medications have been developed that could go a long way in helping win the fight against bad cholesterol.

For some patients lifestyle intervention may not be enough to help them get the results they are looking for. Doctors are looking for more definitive treatments to assist their patients in the future.

By the time patients are treated by a cardiologist their condition has already made significant progress. Finding ways to treat them before they reach the specialist stage has become a focus of the medical community.

Not all emergency rooms are created equal, but if hospitals work together patients can still get the care they need even if it means going to another institution. Ensuring patients can afford the care they receive is also a key component to this discussion.

In an emergency room doctors sometimes only have a matter of moments to make the best diagnosis for a patient. Having the tools to make those calls is important in keeping their patients healthy and alive.

While the treatment of atrial fibrillation has made many advancements in recent years there is still much more work to be done. As with other areas of medicine this includes individualized approaches to care.

At the annual ESC Congress in London there were many key studies presented. Some of them could provide information that doctors can put into practice as soon as they return to the office.

Atrial fibrillation is a common condition cardiologists face on a regular basis. How best to treat those patients is an area still being worked on in the field and in practices around the world.

For some people their best time to work is when others are usually asleep. For these patients and others with sleep disorders finding the right treatment can be difficult, especially when it comes to medications.

A growing term in the healthcare field is excessive sleepiness. What does it mean and how can it affect a patient's life are explained in this segment of our interview with Paul Doghramji, MD.

Primary care physicians see a wide range of patients with any number of symptoms. In light of this it can be easy for simple things like sleep disorders to slip through the cracks which can be harmful to the patient's overall health.

While alternative and complimentary medicine make their way closer to the mainstream there are still some areas of concern with using them while treating hepatitis C. There have also been questions raised about the costs associated with using new medications to treat the disease.

Patients with hepatitis C may not be diagnosed with the condition until their liver damage has progressed to the point of needing a transplant. They may also be suffering from renal failure which requires a different look at treatment options in order to improve overall health.

In the United States genotypes 1 and 2 may be the most common forms of the disease but there are many others, each with their own treatment options and availabilities to patients.

Patients with hepatitis C can go years without having any idea of their condition. Identifying these patients and getting them the treatment they need has become a growing focus in the medical community over the past several years.

Patients diagnosed with diabetes may be able to blame the food their ancestors ate for their condition as easily as they can blame their own eating habits, according to a recent study.

The US Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Entresto for the treatment of heart failure.

The benefits of weight loss for patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery have been well established, but now researchers are focusing their attention on the procedure's benefits for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The practice of individualized medicine took another step forward recently when researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that a patient's genetic variations can determine how they respond to anti-diabetic drugs.

As more research is done the more it appears brown fat will play a key role in the future treatment of diabetes.