Mind the Gap! Working Toward Gender Equity in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease: Present and Future.

Evidence from medicine and other fields has shown that gender diversity results in better decision making and outcomes. The incoming workforce of congenital heart specialists (especially in pediatric cardiology) appears to be more gender balanced, but past studies have shown many inequities. Gender-associated differences in leadership positions, opportunities presented for academic advancement, and recognition for academic contributions to the field persist. In addition, compensation packages remain disparate if evaluated based on gender with equivalent experience and expertise. This review explores these inequities and has suggested individual and institutional changes that could be made to recruit and retain women, monitor the climate of the institution, and identify and eliminate bias in areas like salary and promotions.

Burden with No Benefit: Prior Authorization in Congenital Cardiology.

Prior authorization is a process that health insurance companies use to determine if a patient's health insurance will cover certain medical treatments, procedures, or medications. Prior authorization requests are common in adult congenital and pediatric cardiology (ACPC) due to need for advanced diagnostics, complex procedures, disease-specific medications, and the heterogeneity of the ACPC population. Prior authorizations in ACPC are rarely denied, but nonetheless, they are often accompanied by significant administrative burden on clinical care teams and delays in patient care. Prior authorizations have been implicated in worsening care inequities. The prior authorization process is insurer specific with differences between commercial and public insurers. Prior authorization rejections were previously found to be more common for women, racial minorities, those with low education, and in low-income groups. Prior authorization unduly burdens routine diagnostics, routine interventional and surgical procedures, and routine cardiac specific medication use in the ACPC population. This manuscript highlights the burdens of prior authorization and advocates for the elimination of prior authorization for ACPC patients.

Low Rate of Spontaneous Closure in Premature Infants Discharged with a Patent Ductus Arteriosus: A Multicenter Prospective Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the rate of spontaneous closure and the incidence of adverse events in infants discharged home with a patent ductus arteriosus. STUDY DESIGN: In a prospective multicenter study, we enrolled 201 premature infants (gestational age of 23-32 weeks at birth) discharged home with a persistently patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and followed their PDA status at 6-month intervals through 18 months of age. The primary study outcome was the rate and timing of spontaneous ductal closure. Secondary outcomes included rate of assisted closure and the incidence of serious adverse events. RESULTS: Spontaneous ductal closure occurred in 95 infants (47%) at 12 months and 117 infants (58%) by 18 months. Seventeen infants (8.4%) received assisted closure with surgical ligation or device assisted occlusion. Three infants died (1.5%). Although infants with spontaneous closure had a higher mean birth weight and gestational age compared with infants with a persistent PDA or assisted closure, we did not identify other factors predictive of spontaneous closure. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous closure of the PDA occurred in slightly less than one-half of premature infants discharged with a patent ductus by 1 year, lower than prior published reports. The high rate of assisted closure and/or adverse events in this population warrants close surveillance following discharge. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02750228.

Health Care Policy and Congenital Heart Disease: 2020 Focus on Our 2030 Future.

The congenital heart care community faces a myriad of public health issues that act as barriers toward optimum patient outcomes. In this article, we attempt to define advocacy and policy initiatives meant to spotlight and potentially address these challenges. Issues are organized into the following 3 key facets of our community: patient population, health care delivery, and workforce. We discuss the social determinants of health and health care disparities that affect patients in the community that require the attention of policy makers. Furthermore, we highlight the many needs of the growing adults with congenital heart disease and those with comorbidities, highlighting concerns regarding the inequities in access to cardiac care and the need for multidisciplinary care. We also recognize the problems of transparency in outcomes reporting and the promising application of telehealth. Finally, we highlight the training of providers, measures of productivity, diversity in the workforce, and the importance of patient-family centered organizations in advocating for patients. Although all of these issues remain relevant to many subspecialties in medicine, this article attempts to illustrate the unique needs of this population and highlight ways in which to work together to address important opportunities for change in the cardiac care community and beyond. This article provides a framework for policy and advocacy efforts for the next decade.

Laboratory bioassay studies to determine methoprene susceptibility in a natural population of Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus from the Florida keys.

Larvae of Florida Keys Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus collected from No Name Key were colonized and evaluated against technical S-methoprene in laboratory beaker tests. Glassware was treated with a silanizing reagent before testing to prevent methoprene attachment to the glassware. The No Name Key strain was compared with a susceptible laboratory strain of Oc. taeniorhynchus. Five serial dilutions (0.0100, 0.0050, 0.0010, 0.0005, and 0.0001 microg/ml) and an untreated control were evaluated. Tests were conducted in water baths with a constant water temperature of 27+/-1 degrees C and 250 ml of 3 per thousand salt water. Twenty-five late 3rd-stage larvae were placed in each beaker. Bioassay samples were analyzed by probit analysis and the median lethal concentration (LC50), 90% lethal concentration (LC90), and 95% lethal concentration (LC95) values; confidence limits; chi2 value; slope; and standard error were determined. The Florida Keys No Name Key strain exhibited no significant differences at the LC50, LC90, and LC95 levels from the laboratory strain in these studies.