If you have a problem getting Medicare, Medicare Advantage, or your health insurance plan to cover an atrial fibrillation treatment, such as an afib medication, catheter ablation, or mini maze surgery, you don’t have to take “no” for an answer. You can push back by requesting a “coverage determination” or submitting an appeal.

To learn how, read:  How to Push Back if Medicare or Other Health Insurance Says “No” to Atrial Fibrillation Treatment

Tags: Catheter ablation, Medication, Resources, Surgery, Treatment by Mellanie
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On September 16, 2009, the AF Stat^TM coalition launched two major reports, the AF Stat Call to Action for Atrial Fibrillation and the Avalere Health report Medicare and Atrial Fibrillation: Consequences in Costs and Care. The videos from that webcast are now available for viewing online.

Learn more about AF Stat and access the webcast:
AF Stat^TM Webcast Video Presents Priorities to Improve Atrial Fibrillation Patient Care

Tags: AF Stat, Advocacy, Audio/Video, Events, General, Resources, Study by Mellanie
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There is a lot of big news coming out of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) going on in Barcelona right now. Judging by attendance, this is probably the biggest cardiology event in the world.

The big announcement for atrial fibrillation sufferers is the progress towards a replacement for Coumadin (warfarin) coming out of the results of the Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulant Therapy trial, known as the RE-LY trial.

Trial results showed that dabigatran, a potential Coumadin® replacement that is marketed under the brand name of Pradaxa outside the U.S., is more effective than warfarin at preventing strokes from clotting (ischemic stroke) and bleeding (hemorrhagic stroke).

This is great news for those with atrial fibrillation who are on warfarin as it is so difficult and time-consuming to manage that most who are on it are only in the therapeutic range (INR between 2.0 and 3.0) two-thirds of the time.

Also of interest is the new Stroke Prevention channel on You Tube that Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer of dabigatran, launched in conjunction with the release of the study findings.

Read more and get the link to some stroke prevention videos at: Dabigatran Better than Warfarin for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

Tags: Anticoagulation, Medication, Resources, Study, Treatment by Mellanie
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A study of radio-frequency catheter ablation by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was one of the first government-mandated Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) studies released. The report found that catheter ablation appears effective up to one year after the procedure, but more research is needed into longer-term success as well as the impact on stroke and with certain populations. In addition, we need to know whether patients can have catheter ablation for afib as their first treatment rather than waiting for medications to fail before considering it. If you’re thinking about getting a catheter ablation, this report holds a wealth of information for you.

Read:  Is Radio-frequency Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Ready for Prime Time with Patients and Doctors — Share Your Opinion

After you have read the article, please come back here and add your comments below for our discussion at the AHRQ conference on 9/14/09.

Tags: Catheter ablation, Resources, Study, Treatment by Mellanie
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I’m an information junkie. I admit it. It’s my weakness. That’s why I LOVE following health writers on Twitter to get the latest health news instantly. In TweetDeck, my current Twitter tool of choice, I’ve set up a Group column just for Health Media tweets so that all the latest health news streams into one place. I love it.

If you’re like me, and want to follow the latest health news, check out our list of whom StopAfib follows on Twitter. I’ve just added a new section for health and medical journalists and media. You’ll find folks like @RitaRubin and @LisaCollierCool, whom I retweet a lot. You’ll also find lots of atrial fibrillation and heart health resources to follow as well.

See: Health & Media Journalists on Twitter

Please tweet me with whom you follow on Twitter with interesting health and medical information.

Just a note — if you tweet about atrial fibrillation, please also use the #afib hash tag.

Tags: Resources by Mellanie
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Do you follow tweets on Twitter? If you’re an afibber and information-junkie like me, you may like this list of folks that I follow who tweet on atrial fibrillation or afib-related topics or breaking health and medical news.

See: Twitter: Atrial Fibrillation Tweets

Tags: Resources by Mellanie
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If you’re looking for the latest atrial fibrillation news, here are a couple of options:

1. Get the latest atrial fibrillation news articles via afib news feed at any time by going to the bottom of the StopAfib.org news & events page. You might want to bookmark it and check it daily for the latest information.

   Go to: StopAfib.org News & Events page

2. StopAfib.org sends messages by Twitter about related news. It may be breaking news about atrial fibrillation or information about conditions that often go hand-in-hand with it, such as sleep apnea or diabetes. You can get these alerts by following StopAfib on Twitter.

   Follow StopAfib on Twitter

Tags: Resources by Mellanie
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Healthy diet is so important to those with afib and to anyone who has, or wants to ward off, heart disease and other health issues. So, here is some really useful information for your holiday travel. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine just ranked 15 busy airports based on whether they have healthy food.

Read: Airports with the Healthiest Food Options

Tags: Prevention, Resources by Mellanie
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A new issue of the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation is now available.

Information about the new issue is available here:  Journal of Atrial Fibrillation Issue #3

Tags: Resources by Mellanie
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You can take advantage of a rare opportunity to ask Dr. Larry Chinitz and Dr. Ralph Damiano your atrial fibrillation questions. They will be answering afib questions over at the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation.

Please click on this link to learn more:  Ask Dr. Larry Chinitz and Dr. Ralph Damiano Your Atrial Fibrillation Questions

PLEASE NOTE: Questions posted in our comments section here will be answered by the folks at StopAfib.org, NOT by Dr. Chinitz or Dr. Damiano.

Tags: Resources by Mellanie
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