Medical experts are disputing claims made by a Las Vegas hospital defending its frequent use of heart implants produced by a company to which its physicians had financial ties, according to a New York Times report.
University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas faced increased scrutiny earlier this month when the New York Times published an exposé revealing the hospital physicians' close relationship with Biotronik, a company considered to be lesser-known in the industry.
In mid-2008, Biotronik hired several cardiologists who implant heart devices at UMC as consultants, paying them fees that may have reached as high as $5,000 a month, according to this New York Times report. By 2010, 95 percent of patients who underwent a heart device implantation received a Biotronik product.
Hospital CEO Kathy Silver defended UMC's practices, saying patients who received Biotronik implants showed significantly improved outcomes.
A hospital spokesperson later said Ms. Silver's comments were based on data from a national registry of heart patients who received an implanted defibrillator, part of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry. Medical experts, however, say proper data is unavailable to back up Ms. Silver's claim.
Several experts with knowledge of the database say it does not track device recipients after they leave a hospital. Therefore, it cannot provide hospitals with information on device performance in the long term, nor can it produce data that can be used to compare implants from one company to another.
A UMC spokesperson issued a written statement to the New York Times in response to the experts' assessments, stating, “By way of clarification, U.M.C. did not intend to say that our better outcomes can be attributed to a particular device,” according to the report. The spokesperson also said the hospital’s remarks about improving patient outcomes were intended to mean its use of the defibrillator database was helping the hospital monitor its performance.
Read the New York Times report on University Medical Center and Biotronik.
Read more about University Medical Center and its use of heart implants:
- Exposé on Nevada Hospital's Relationship With Pacemaker Company Prompts State Probe
University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas faced increased scrutiny earlier this month when the New York Times published an exposé revealing the hospital physicians' close relationship with Biotronik, a company considered to be lesser-known in the industry.
In mid-2008, Biotronik hired several cardiologists who implant heart devices at UMC as consultants, paying them fees that may have reached as high as $5,000 a month, according to this New York Times report. By 2010, 95 percent of patients who underwent a heart device implantation received a Biotronik product.
Hospital CEO Kathy Silver defended UMC's practices, saying patients who received Biotronik implants showed significantly improved outcomes.
A hospital spokesperson later said Ms. Silver's comments were based on data from a national registry of heart patients who received an implanted defibrillator, part of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry. Medical experts, however, say proper data is unavailable to back up Ms. Silver's claim.
Several experts with knowledge of the database say it does not track device recipients after they leave a hospital. Therefore, it cannot provide hospitals with information on device performance in the long term, nor can it produce data that can be used to compare implants from one company to another.
A UMC spokesperson issued a written statement to the New York Times in response to the experts' assessments, stating, “By way of clarification, U.M.C. did not intend to say that our better outcomes can be attributed to a particular device,” according to the report. The spokesperson also said the hospital’s remarks about improving patient outcomes were intended to mean its use of the defibrillator database was helping the hospital monitor its performance.
Read the New York Times report on University Medical Center and Biotronik.
Read more about University Medical Center and its use of heart implants:
- Exposé on Nevada Hospital's Relationship With Pacemaker Company Prompts State Probe