50-card group Midwest Heart joins with Advocate

Midwest Heart Specialists, an independent cardiology practice in Illinois with 50 physicians, has integrated with Advocate Medical Group, and will now be known as Midwest Heart Specialists-Advocate Medical Group.

The cardiologists will continue to provide clinical services in the same locations and hospitals where they currently practice. The physicians have multiple locations in and around Rockford, Ill., and Chicago’s western and northwestern suburbs.

“Our patients benefit from this collaboration in that we will be providing advanced care in terms of new technology and, on the screening and prevention side, we are looking to detect problems early and solving them with proven treatment methods,” said Vincent J. Bufalino, MD, senior vice president of cardiovascular services for Advocate Health Care and former chairman and CEO of Midwest Heart Specialists, headquartered in Elmhurst, Ill.

Midwest Heart Specialists already participates in Advocate’s Clinical Integration Program, which is seeking to align with the accountable care organization model.

Check out Bufalino's recent comments in the February issue of Cardiovascular Business, in the article "Clinical Registries: Getting Necessary & Costly.

Around the web

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.