New data presented for the first time at the World Heart Federation’s World Congress of Cardiology 2014 shows a significant improvement in both patient adherence and risk factor control when patients at high risk of heart attack or stroke receive a polypill, compared to usual care.

Datascope Corp./Maquet initiated a voluntary worldwide field correction of some of its intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs) due to a potential mechanical failure of the fan assembly associated with the power supply. All customers that may have an IABP affected by this field correction have been notified. The company says there are about 12,360 affected units sold globally.

The need for improved interoperability between healthcare IT systems and medical devices has been a growing problem in an increasingly integrated medical field. This is especially true in light of U.S. healthcare reform requirements, meaningful use demands and new rules requiring software integrations to receive reimbursements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Physicians are trained to treat patients, not to deal with IT integration issues, and many ask why they cannot access information they need from the Internet from anywhere, the same way they do on smartphones or their home computers. Until recently, this same level of connectivity has been elusive with their own hospitals’ IT systems. Over the past couple years, vendors have answered this question by launching Web-based