Paying Patients To Take Drugs, Or Helping Them Make An Informed Choice

Wendy Lynch

Posted 11/29/11 on the HCMS Group Blog

It’s hard to imagine something scarier than a heart attack: crushing pain, combined with the realization that the organ you rely on to beat every second of every day is in trouble. Suddenly, you are mortal.

Many patients who experience a heart attack consider it a wake-up call, and a reason to take better care of themselves: “Maybe I should walk more and lose a few pounds.” Certainly, for heart-attack victims who are prescribed a medicine to drastically reduce the chances of another heart attack, there is a strong motivation to take it.

But here’s the surprising part: often they don’t. In the year after a heart attack, only about 40% of patients take medications as prescribed (1).

Continue reading “Paying Patients To Take Drugs, Or Helping Them Make An Informed Choice” →

Coronary Artery Calcium Score Aids Physicians in Better Classifying Heart Disease

Here’s an under 3-minute April 2010 video, produced by the Journal of the American Medical Association, that clearly explains the use of Coronary Artery Calcium Scores in helping doctors better understand the risk of heart disease.

Coronary Calcium Score Can Determine Risk For Heart Attack

Here’s a 12/20/2007 Medscape General Medicine video with Bill Bestermann MD explaining the value of Coronary Calcium Scores as a predictor of coronary risk.

How A Heart Attack Happens

This 7 minute video provides a clear explanation of the vascular mechanics responsible for so many heart attacks, including the one that lead to Tim Russert’s death.

How Most Fatal Heart Attacks Actually Happen

This 28 second video illustrates the kind of event that Tim Russert experienced, and that is described in Dr. Bestermann’s article above.

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