Calcimimetics and Bundled Reimbursement

Calcium, calcimimetics and clinical outcomes.

T he introduction of less-calcemic vitamin D analogs in 1998 was the beginning of a fundamental change in the management paradigm for secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic kidney disease (1). Until that time, the prevailing treatment strategy involved maintaining serum calcium (Ca) at the upper limit of normal to facilitate calcium-induced suppression of parathyroid hormone (PT...

Calcimimetics and outcomes in CKD

In the past decade, several experimental studies demonstrated an inhibitory effect of calcimimetics on the progression of vascular calcification in animals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), in keeping with the expression of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) in vascular tissue. In addition, calcimimetics were also found to prevent the arterial remodeling caused by CKD and to slow the progressi...

Bundled payments in orthopaedics.

H ealthcare spending currently accounts for approximately 18% of the Gross Domestic Product in the United States, up from 13% in 2000. Hospital reimbursement for total joint replacement (Diagnosis Related Group 470) represented the largest Diagnosis Related Group payment by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to hospitals in 2008, accounting for 4.6% of payments [1]. In light of ...

Clinical effects of calcimimetics in hyperparathyroidism.

The Bundled Crossing Number

We study the algorithmic aspect of edge bundling. A bundled crossing in a drawing of a graph is a group of crossings between two sets of parallel edges. The bundled crossing number is the minimum number of bundled crossings that group all crossings in a drawing of the graph. We show that the bundled crossing number is closely related to the orientable genus of the graph. If multiple crossings a...