News in brief - April 18, 2011

Cardiac-device infections expensive and deadly

Heart device-related surgical infections triple patients' length of stay in hospitals, more than double hospitalization costs and can increase mortality tenfold, according to a study of more than 200,000 Medicare patients with pacemaker and defibrillator implantations.

The data, presented in a session at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in April, showed that patients who contract a surgical infection during implantation of a heart device are eight to 11 times more likely to die in the hospital than uninfected heart-device patients.

They are twice as likely to die within the following year, said the study, funded by TYRX Inc., a manufacturer of infection-control products.

Patients with infections cost hospitals from $17,000 to $25,000 more to treat than uninfected heart-device patients, said the study, presented by M. Rizwan Sohail, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Minnesota.

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Physicians can use ACPE credits to earn master's degree

Doctors who have taken management-training courses from the American College of Physician Executives now can use those credits to pursue a master's degree in health care quality and safety management, the 10,000-member organization announced in April.

Physicians who have taken 125 hours of ACPE coursework in areas such as health law, marketing and informatics can finish a master's degree with nine courses at the Thomas Jefferson University School of Population Health in Philadelphia.

Each online master's degree course at Jefferson requires a weekly commitment of eight to 12 hours, the ACPE said.

Since 1997, nearly 800 physicians have obtained graduate degrees through the ACPE, which also partners with business schools at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the University of Southern California.

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