Services performed at Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute, located at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, include electrophysiology procedures, prevention services and research, diagnostic cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and interventional cardiology. In this article, the authors discuss how a certain system helped improve inventory, scheduling and financial aspects of their lab.

Though it should not affect the quality of care a patient received, managed care is always a factor that should be taken into consideration. The following accounts of managed care in the EP lab were taken from “Spotlight Interviews” published in EP Lab Digest between September 2001 to September 2004. The managers’ comments were edited slightly so as to focus solely on the managed care aspect of their EP labs.

Electrophysiology labs across the nation continue to enjoy a long and proud tradition of providing high-quality clinical services to diagnose and treat cardiac rhythm abnormalities through electrophysiological intervention. Due to its limited invasiveness and superior outcomes, demand for this therapy is driving the advancement of the profession and promoting the development of new technologies and modalities, all while improving the quality of patients’ lives.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most recurrent arrhythmia in clinical practice. It affects more than two million people in the US, with 180,000 new cases added every year. It is estimated that by the year 2050, there will be approximately six to eight million people suffering from AF.

Public access to automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) is a hot topic in the field of EP right now. In fact, at this year’s Cardiostim meeting, physicians discussed the success of external defibrillators in public places, finding that Americans have had the most success rates compared to other countries. The Winchester Fire-EMS in Winchester, Kentucky recently initiated a community-wide Community Access Automatic External Defibrillator Program. Major Neal Oliver at the Winchester Fire-EMS describes how the program was started.

The Heart Rhythm Society posted the “Clinical Competency Statement: Training Pathways for Implantation of Cardioverter Defibrillators and Cardiac Resynchronization Devices” on their website on July 15th. These guidelines were developed to help ensure the safety of patients who receive these devices by preventing device implantation by implanters with minimum experience.

Thank you readers for all of your responses last month. In this issue we post a new question for discussion. As always, I’ve included one of our previous questions below as well. Remember, it is never too late to send in your responses to questions from past issues. If you have information that may be helpful for our readers, email us at eplabdigest@hotmail.com or go to www.eplabdigest.com and click on the email discussion group link. Our website is constantly being updated with new responses, so check back often!