Hospitals Battle For Control Over Fast-Growing Heart-Valve Procedure

Michael Vigil, an oil contractor from Douglas, Wyo., traveled 250 miles to Denver to have his aortic valve replaced in May. He said he would have preferred his local hospital do the procedure.

Medicare limits payments for minimally invasive replacement of aortic valves to hospitals with large numbers of heart procedures. But smaller facilities are crying foul.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Michael Vigil)

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Phil Galewitz