In response to an ongoing speculation over the hospital's heart implant practices, the CEO of University Medical Center in Las Vegas has said the issue is between a private group of physicians and device-maker Biotronik — not the hospital, according to a KLAS-TV 8 News report.
CEO Kathy Silver recently received criticism by medical experts after defending the hospital's heavy use of Biotronik heart implants, saying patients who received that brand of implants showed significantly improved outcomes. Now, however, Ms. Silver has said the hospital doesn't have specific arrangements with either Biotronik or cardiologists, and the device brand used is their decision.
"We allow physicians to use all four of the major device manufacturers' products in UMC. We don't have an exclusive arrangement with Biotronik. We don't have an exclusive arrangement with the doctors. We rely on the doctors' clinical judgment to make a choice about what's the best product to use for their patients," UMC CEO Kathy Silver said, according to the report.
"This is not an unusual circumstance, and it's not unique to Las Vegas, and it's certainly not unique to Nevada or this group," she said in the report.
UMC 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.
Read the KLAS-TV 8 News report on University Medical Center and Biotronik.
Read more about UMC and Biotronik:
- Exposé on Nevada Hospital's Relationship With Pacemaker Company Prompts State Probe
CEO Kathy Silver recently received criticism by medical experts after defending the hospital's heavy use of Biotronik heart implants, saying patients who received that brand of implants showed significantly improved outcomes. Now, however, Ms. Silver has said the hospital doesn't have specific arrangements with either Biotronik or cardiologists, and the device brand used is their decision.
"We allow physicians to use all four of the major device manufacturers' products in UMC. We don't have an exclusive arrangement with Biotronik. We don't have an exclusive arrangement with the doctors. We rely on the doctors' clinical judgment to make a choice about what's the best product to use for their patients," UMC CEO Kathy Silver said, according to the report.
"This is not an unusual circumstance, and it's not unique to Las Vegas, and it's certainly not unique to Nevada or this group," she said in the report.
UMC 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.
Read the KLAS-TV 8 News report on University Medical Center and Biotronik.
Read more about UMC and Biotronik:
- Exposé on Nevada Hospital's Relationship With Pacemaker Company Prompts State Probe