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The use of mobile health applications and other technologies have promise to connect patients to physicians, but there is more work to be done, said Maulik D. Majmudar, MD, at the 2016 AHA Conference.

Improvements in risk factor modification and advances in the medical management of cardiovascular disease are truly affecting mortality rates, said Barry Franklin, PhD, in a presentation at the 2016 AHA Conference.

“Major limitations undermine the clinical utility” of the risk score calculator, said Steven E. Nissen, MD, at the 2016 AHA Conference.

Ifa bill introduced in Congress passes into law, paying directly for primary care will be a lot easier to do.

“We should be doing everything we can to manage blood pressure better in women in the acute stroke setting,” Cheryl Bushnell, MD, said at the 2016 AHA Conference.

Electronic health records may be the key to improving medical care and health outcomes for cardiology patients, said Marc S. Williams, MD, at the 2016 AHA Conference.

Researchers in Pennsylvania are using genetic information to identify patients’ risk for familial hyercholesterolmia, said Michael F. Murray, MD, at the 2016 AHA Conference.

The growth of smartphone usage is giving physicians new ways to stay connected with patients and improve their care, and evidence shows that communication outside of the office setting is acceptable and can help improve outcomes.

Running a physician practice is a lot different-and substantially more challenging-than it used to be.

With the new president pledging to throw out the Affordable Care Act, he must be careful not to end up with a plan equally as unpopular.

As is often the case in healthcare and business, no one single tool provides sufficient information to create sustainable solutions for a challenge at hand. And so it goes with the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey.

A new vaccine against Alzheimer’s targets two proteins involved in the development of the disease in hopes to offer both early and late protection.

Scientists at Emory University have developed a vaccine they say may work well in preventing infection with rhinovirus-the top cause of the common cold.

Patient satisfaction surveys are here to stay and, used correctly, can perhaps add value. But with all the information available today to patients, they will simply “rate” you with their feet, leaving for another provider if truly dissatisfied-no survey necessary, saving everyone a lot of time and energy.

When it comes to getting sued for medical malpractice, it is unfortunately more a case of “when” than “if.”

Making time for patients remains challenging for physicians, but peers offer solutions

If we believe that time spent with patients is the most important piece of our patient care, we must have the conviction and courage to do what is right and say no when we need to say no, whether it is to payers who don’t value our time, or government data collection mandates that take time away from our patients. In return, I ask my patients to appreciate our efforts to dedicate our time for them.

I have recognized a recurring theme among physicians. “Medicine is not what it used to be,” a colleague had once said.

Today’s physicians are busier than ever tackling high-volume schedules, chasing quality metrics and interpreting scads of data flowing into the electronic health record (EHR) 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When should physicians say they are sorry? When should they stay quiet? There’s a time and place for both.

Getting rid of those pesky sue happy patients.

The hard work and cost of becoming a PCMH will benefit practices as they begin value-based pay.

Patient feedback is important, but becomes problematic when linked to pay, doctors say.

Congress’s passage of the Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) will have profound implications for the nation’s physicians, especially those practicing alone or in small groups.

A new report reveals that 69% of healthcare providers are using patient engagement to get patients more involved in their own care, but its authors suggest that number should be closer to 100%.

Donald Trump’s surprising win in the presidential election has put a renewed focus on what will happen to healthcare under the new administration.

With a major hack of an insurance company’s database having made front-page news not long ago, it’s natural that many physicians think first about electronic data when they think about protecting patients’ private health information (PHI).

Calling a Donald Trump presidency “a threat to the goals of medicine,” more than 600 physicians have signed a statement opposing him and urging others in the medical community to vote against the Republican presidential nominee.

Online patient communities are dramatically changing how patients engage with the healthcare community. In fact, more than 40% of patients say that information found via social media affects the way they deal with their health.