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Cardiology Compensation, Biodegradable PFO, and Abbott Buys Laralab
October 16, 2025
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Together with
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“There is no reason to punish us. We’re trying to do good in the world.”
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James Antaki, a biomedical engineer at Cornell on the recent federal budget cuts.
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Today at 1:00pm ET: Register for this exclusive Cardiac Wire webinar so you don’t miss your chance to hear from two of America’s top cardiologists on how they’re using in-office CCTA to help improve CAD detection and diagnosis in their clinics.
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Good news and bad news from MedAxiom’s latest cardiology compensation survey. The good news? Cardiologist median compensation reached new record highs last year. The bad news? Patient access deteriorated while the number of patients physicians had to manage swelled.
- The 2025 MedAxiom Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey represents the cardiovascular industry’s most comprehensive compensation dataset.
- It can also help signal fundamental shifts in how cardiovascular care is valued and delivered.
The 2025 survey findings aggregated data across cardiology, cardiac surgery, and vascular surgery specialties, examining compensation trends, workforce deployment patterns, and productivity metrics and found that…
- Full-time cardiologist median compensation reached $695k despite slight wRVU production declines.
- When filtering by employment type, integrated practice cardiologists surpassed $700k compared to private practice physicians at $588k — the largest gap in over five years.
- Cardiac surgeons saw only modest compensation increases while vascular surgeons maintained near-peak compensation despite both showing productivity drops.
Even with those pay raises, patient access hasn’t improved, rather going in the other direction…
- Patient access showed significant strain with panel sizes reaching nearly 2,000 per physician FTE.
- Meanwhile, new patient office visits declined for the first time in years to just 15.4% of total visits.
- Catheterization and PCI volumes per 1,000 active cardiology patients continued downward trends, reflecting shifts toward more advanced imaging guidance.
Given mounting access challenges despite workforce expansion, the survey once again confirmed that advanced practice providers are central to maintaining care capacity.
- Cardiology programs increased APP-to-physician ratios to 0.75, while cardiac and vascular surgery programs saw declining APP support per surgeon.
- Cardiology APPs demonstrated 8% productivity growth, with private practice APPs significantly outperforming integrated peers.
- The declining physician FTEs per 1,000 active patients alongside rising APP utilization represents a fundamental care delivery transformation rather than adaptation.
The Takeaway
MedAxiom’s 2025 compensation survey captures cardiovascular care at a turning point because while provider compensation reaches historic highs, access metrics reveal capacity shortcomings that compensation probably won’t solve. Whether or not more APPs or more physicians is the right answer remains to be seen.
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GLS Analysis of Us2.ai’s Fully-Automated Software
Ten years after the first head-to-head comparison of 2D echocardiography, the latest review suggests Us2.ai is among the easiest to use and integrate. Read the study to learn about how Us2.ai’s software requires zero operator input, operates without human intervention, and leads to high agreement with traditional semi-automated speckle- tracking software solutions.
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Streamlining Cath Lab Hemodynamic Workflows
Is your hemodynamic solution keeping your cath lab efficient? Merge Hemo is a cath lab hemodynamic monitoring solution, providing a Best in KLAS user experience, while enhancing clinical workflows, automating data collection, and streamlining inventory management.
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Explore Vitrea Advanced Visualization
Discover Canon Medical Healthcare IT’s suite of advanced imaging workflows designed to increase efficiency in cardiovascular imaging, and facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These cutting-edge tools support the delivery of faster, more accurate care while integrating seamlessly into clinical workflow
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- Ketone Bodies as AFib Biomarker: Ketone bodies (KBs) in the blood, which are common in smokers, could help determine a patient’s risk of AFib. An EHJ study examined data from over 122k patients without baseline AFib and found that each doubling of baseline total KB levels increased AFib hazard 1.08-fold. Current smokers showed stronger KB associations (HR: 1.32) versus former/never smokers. Results were also consistent across KB types (β-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, acetone), suggesting KBs could serve as AFib risk biomarkers, particularly among smokers.
- Medtronic Endurant Label Change: Medtronic received FDA labeling approval for its Endurant stent graft system, making it the first stent graft device to have the ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) treatment warning removed. The new labeling adds rAAA clinical evidence, potentially enabling physicians to use the device for treating these life-threatening ruptures. This approval also represents a significant milestone for treatment of ruptured aneurysms, distinguishing Medtronic’s Endurant system from competing stent graft products that still carry the rAAA warning.
- Abbott Acquires Laralab: Abbott acquired Munich-based Laralab, integrating its AI-powered cardiac imaging technology into Abbott’s heart.ai platform. Laralab’s FDA-cleared platform is the first fully automated AI solution for comprehensive CT analysis across structural heart interventions, including mitral, tricuspid, and aortic valves. Using deep learning technology, it enables high-precision anatomical assessment for transcatheter procedures like TAVR, TMVR, and TTVR.
- Stereotaxis + CardioFocus for Robo-PFA: Stereotaxis and CardioFocus announced a collaboration to develop the first robotic pulsed field ablation system for cardiac arrhythmias. The partnership combines CardioFocus’ CE-marked Centauri PFA System, with Stereotaxis’ MAGiC robotic magnetic navigation catheter. Successful preclinical testing already demonstrated safe, efficient lesion delivery including deep ventricular lesions. The companies now plan to advance toward clinical trials and regulatory approval, with first human use anticipated within months.
- Kardigan’s Quarter-Billion Fundraise: Kardigan closed a $254M Series B financing round to advance three of its late-stage cardiovascular programs. The company is developing danicamtiv for genetic dilated cardiomyopathy, tonlamarsen for acute severe hypertension, and ataciguat for calcific aortic valve stenosis – all conditions which lack effective treatments. Kardigan claims it differs from other pharma developers by using cardiac intelligence and data-driven approaches to target disease causes rather than manage symptoms.
- Micro Devices Notches FDA IDE: Micro Interventional Devices received FDA Investigational Device Exemption approval to begin the STTAR-US pivotal trial for its MIA-T transcatheter tricuspid valve repair technology. The device uses the company’s proprietary polymeric PolyCor anchors deployed via 12F catheters to reduce annular area and minimize tricuspid regurgitation. With 1.6M Americans suffering from TR and limited treatment options, the company believes MIA-T could address undertreated patients ineligible for surgery or TEER procedures.
- First EVOQUE TTVR in Transplanted Heart: A recent JHLT report described the first transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement (TTVR) using Edwards’ EVOQUE system in a heart transplant recipient. The report’s authors successfully performed TTVR in the transplanted heart and established methods for routine right heart catheterization alongside endomyocardial biopsy surveillance post-procedure, while observing potential right ventricular reverse remodeling in their patient. EVOQUE received FDA approval in February 2025 for severe tricuspid regurgitation, which commonly affects transplant patients due to multiple factors including biopsy-related valve damage.
- FFR vs. Angiography-Guided Revascularization: In another win for fractional flow reserve vs. angiography, a new EHJ study found that FFR-guided revascularization effectively identifies patients who benefit from intervention while avoiding unnecessary procedures. The study randomized 101 hypertensive patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis to undergo either FFR-guided or angiography-guided revascularization and found that blood pressure and medication reductions were similar between groups, but FFR guidance reduced stenting rates significantly (46% vs 100%).
- LAAA Can Safely Prevent Stroke: Researchers now think LAAA may be a safe stroke prevention strategy in non-AFib patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The Heart Rhythm study followed 434 non-AFib patients undergoing cardiac surgery, 150 of which received left atrial appendage amputation (LAAA) and found that LAAA was not associated with increased major complications, postoperative AFib, or fluid overload within 30 days. Atrial tachycardias were slightly more common with LAAA (4% vs 0.4%) but rare overall, suggesting that LAAA is safe in non-AFib patients.
- Biodegradable PFO Closure: Patent foramen ovale patients might now have a new biodegradable PFO closure device to help reduce the risk of health complications from the hole in their hearts. Researchers compared the new biodegradable closure device with traditional nitinol devices in 190 patients and found that successful closure rates were noninferior at 6 months (90.63% for biodegradable vs. 91.49%). No deaths, embolism, thrombus, or erosion occurred in either group and the biodegradable device gradually disappeared on echocardiography within 24 months post-implantation.
- Women’s Aortic Dissection is Different than Men’s: According to a BMJ study, current guideline size criteria for ascending aortic aneurysm repair may not benefit women. Researchers examined 413 patients with acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) and found that women experienced dissection at smaller absolute aortic diameters than men (46.6mm vs 48.5mm). However, when indexed to height and body surface area, women’s aortas were proportionally larger at dissection.
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A Single Cardiac Service Line Platform
Transitioning across multiple imaging platforms is a daily reality for many cardiologists, but it doesn’t have to be. See how three leading cardiac imagers are leveraging Circle CVI’s unified multi-modal software across their diverse caseloads, without switching to other platforms.
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Relieving The Burden of Post-Processing
With the advent of advanced imaging technologies like CCTA come added burdens to technologists and diagnostic imaging centers. See how PIA can relieve the burden of post-processing, saving you time while helping your bottom line.
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Personalized Plaque Analysis Now With Medicare Coverage
Heartflow’s Plaque Analysis is now reimbursable thanks to Medicare’s new coverage for AI-enabled plaque analysis of eligible patients with coronary artery disease.
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- Identify and Treat Cardiovascular Disease: Complex care pathways make getting patients to the next step a challenge. See how Tempus Next, an AI enabled care pathway platform, helps providers identify and reduce under treatment in cardiovascular disease by adding an intelligent layer onto their routinely generated EHR data.
- Precision QRS Detection: QRS detection is essential for any ECG algorithm, and Monebo’s Kinetic QRS ECG Algorithm sets the standard for accuracy. Kinetic QRS accurately detects the QRS complex, no matter the amplitude, waveform, or noise levels.
- Changes in Heart Failure Management: Heart failure is a complex condition with high heart failure hospitalization and cardiovascular mortality rates, especially among patients with HFpEF and HFmrEF, for whom treatment options have been limited. Read how Bayer’s Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon discusses the changing treatment landscape and strategies for improving patient outcomes.
- Siemens Healthineers ACUSON Origin Ultrasound System is Redefining CVUS: ACUSON Origin meets the demands of today’s cardiovascular care with AI-powered efficiency across adult and pediatric echo, vascular, structural heart, and EP. Streamlined workflows, intuitive walk-up usability, and advanced ergonomics empower clinicians to deliver confident, high-quality care—supporting a wide range of complex cases and clinical applications.
- How Vista AI Helps Solve the Technologist Shortage: Fewer than 2% of MRI scanners are routinely used for cardiac imaging—mainly due to a shortage of trained technologists amid rising demand. Vista AI addresses this challenge by automating CMR scanning, empowering technologists of all experience levels to deliver high-quality cardiac exams consistently and efficiently.
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