A report released by the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT) showing angioplasty and cardiac bypass surgeries had decreased statewide but geographic variation in treatment increased is gaining national attention.
National media outlets, including NPR and The Washington Post, talk about the report’s findings with Marianne Udow-Phillips, M.H.S.A., CHRT director and lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Statewide, the report shows use of cardiac procedures declined an average of 19 percent from 1997 to 2008, though differences between the parts of the state with the largest and smallest numbers of coronary interventions got wider.
“The amazing and fantastic news is we’ve reduced the amount of surgery and mortality,” Udow-Phillips told The Washington Post. “The fact that variation in treatment has increased, and almost all of it is due to elective procedures, that’s more troubling.”
For more, please visit The Lansing State Journal, The Washington Post, Kaiser Health News and NPR.
