Using “Clinical Nuance” to Improve Quality of Care and Contain Costs*
The past several decades have produced remarkable technological and therapeutic innovations in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, resulting in impressive reductions in cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. These enhanced clinical outcomes coincide with a time of significant stress within our health care system, namely, with the burden of ballooning costs of care. In recent years, health care spending has grown much faster than the rate of inflation, with cardiovascular expenditures accounting for the largest portion of spending.