EP Lab Digest - March 2008 - (Page 59)

MARCH 2008 NEWS 59 The Heart Rhythm Society Responds to President Bush’s Proposed Budget Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS, President of the Heart Rhythm Society, Expresses Concern he Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) expressed disappointment about President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request with a statement from Society President, Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS. In addition to flat-funding the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the President’s budget does not address the broken Medicare physician payment system, which will cut physician payments by 10.6 percent beginning July 1, 2008.Visit the Office of the Budget Web site to learn more (http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/UI/GDP_FromGenBudget.htm). T WASHINGTON, February 8, 2008 — Attributable to: Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS, President of the Heart Rhythm Society: “The Heart Rhythm Society, the international leader in science, education, and advocacy for cardiac arrhythmia professionals and patients, expresses disappointment about President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request. HRS is extremely concerned with the Administration’s failure to once again call on Congress to address the broken Medicare physician payment system which will cut physician payments by 10.6 percent starting July 1, 2008 and does not provide payments equal to rising practice costs. Without adequate funding, physicians cannot make needed investments in health information technology and quality improvement efforts to ensure patient access to high quality health care. “HRS is also disappointed with the President’s proposal to flat-fund the National Institutes of Health, which will no doubt stifle the remarkable progress biomedical research has made in the detection and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, among many other diseases and conditions. The Administration’s request represents the sixth consecutive year that the NIH budget has failed to keep pace with biomedical inflation. In the past five years, NIH has lost approximately 11% in purchasing power due to inflation. If the President’s FY 2009 request becomes law, NIH will have lost one-seventh of its purchasing power due to inflation. For FY 2009, HRS strongly urges $31.1 billion for NIH, an increase of $1.9 billion over the FY 2008 funding level. “Cardiovascular disease is the nation's leading killer. Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained heart rhythm disorder and increases the risk for heart disease and stroke. An estimated 2.2 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and over 160,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. In addition, more than 250,000 people die each year from sudden cardiac arrest, another leading cause of death in the United States. “The bottom line is clear: decreased funding for Medicare payments to physicians and decreased research funding for the NIH will detrimentally affect Americans’ ability to receive critical cardiac treatment.” BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring for Patients with Cardiac Devices Launched in India Revolutionary Wireless Remote Telecardiology for Improved Patient Care IOTRONIK has launched its revolutionary Home Monitoring® system in India. This wireless telecardiology solution was introduced on February 12th with the implant of BIOTRONIK’s newest pacemaker, Cylos DR-T with Closed Loop Stimulation (CLS), at the Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center in New Delhi.The Cylos DR-T, with CLS, is part of BIOTRONIK´s bradycardia product portfolio, delivering physiologic rate adaptive therapy for optimized hemodynamics in pacemaker patients. The Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center and other clinics like it across India can now continuously monitor their patients with BIOTRONIK cardiac devices remotely, allowing physicians to verify diagnostic and technical device data online. BIOTRONIK B Home Monitoring ® is also for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices with continuous automatic daily data transmissions of the patient’s cardiovascular status to the physician from anywhere in the world using an antenna integrated in the device and the GSM telephone network. “We are targeting about 25 implantations in the first year, which could reach up to 500 in the next 35 years,” explained Dr. T.S. Kler, Managing Director, Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center. BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring has already been introduced in 45 countries worldwide and available for 100,000 implanted cardiac devices with over 2,500 active clinics. BIOTRONIK has now established commercial headquarters in India for both its Cardiac Rhythm Management and Vascular Intervention businesses. BIOTRONIK is dedicated to providing innovative cardiac rhythm therapies and solutions. Intelligent implants like the Cylos DR-T with CLS is able to emulate the healthy sinus node. A unique pacing concept in which changes in the heart’s contraction dynamics are measured and appropriate physiologic regulation of the heart rate is performed automatically to restore a patient’s quality of life. In conjunction with BIOTRONIK Home ® Monitoring solution for wireless remote monitoring, the new pacemaker Cylos DR-T opens up extraordinary opportunities for treating cardiac disease by connecting patients and physicians to facilitate proactive treatment and care. http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/UI/GDP_FromGenBudget.htm

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EP Lab Digest - March 2008

EP Lab Digest - March 2008 ECG 101: The Case of a Dizzy Patient with a Left Bundle Branch Block Delayed Defibrillation: Research and Results Interview with Paul S. Chan, MD Contents Letter from the Editor Spotlight Interview: St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center Parent Heart Watch from 36,000 Feet… Perspectives from the Annual Leadership Conference Clinical Trial Overview: 2008 Are MRI-Safe Pacemakers and Leads on the Horizon? Q & A with J. Rod Gimbel, MD Navigating Tortuous Coronary Sinus Anatomy Using a Bipolar Lead Email Discussion Group: March 2008 Guidelines on ECG Interpretation Spotlight Interview Update: What Have We Learned? The Value of Educating Staff Events Calendar Industry News and Products Classifieds Advertisers Index In Memoriam

EP Lab Digest - March 2008

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