Health Highlights: March 4, 2007

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Cost-Saving Program Doesn't Work in Heart Procedures, Study Says

A program established in most states called a Certificate of Need -- designed to reduce both mortality rates and health care costs -- doesn't do either in the case of two important heart procedures, a study has found.

Dr. Vivian Ho, who studied Certificate of Need results for performing angioplasty and open heart surgery, found that the regulation produced only small benefits in open heart surgery and no benefit at all for angioplasty, which inserts a balloon or stent into a patient's blood vessels to open them up.

"For cardiac (heart) procedures, Certificate of Need doesn't create the kind of savings and reductions in mortality rates that policymakers thought it would achieve," Ho said in a Baylor College of Medicine news release. "I can't directly test for it, but it is my hypothesis that these regulations unintentionally increase the number of procedures performed," she added.

The reason? Ho theorizes that Certificate of Need regulations do contribute to reductions in the average cost per cardiac intervention, but the regulations also require a minimum of 200 cardiac procedures annually. So, many hospitals perform angioplasties and surgeries when medication might do just as well or better. This, in turn, raises the hospital costs unnecessarily, she concludes.

The study is published in the latest online edition of theInternational Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics.

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Automated Procedure to Detect West Nile in Blood, Organ Donors Approved

A system that automatically screens for West Nile virus in human donors' blood tissue and organs has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Called the Procleix WNV Assay on the Procleix TIGRIS system, the procedure is an automated way to detect the presence of West Nile virus in people who are donating an organ or plasma, the FDA says in a news release. However, the TIGRIS system will not be used for cord blood specimens or as an aid in the diagnosis of West Nile virus infection, the agency adds.

"The capability of full automation can reduce the potential for human error while accelerating donor screening and enhancing the safety of blood and tissues," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, the director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "This is the latest step forward in what has been a very successful industry-government effort to keep blood safe from the emerging threat of West Nile virus."