Heart disease topped the list of most costly conditions in terms of overall expenditures in 2008, according to a brief released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Expenditures for heart disease-related care and treatment of men and women were $47.3 billion and $43.6 billion, respectively.

An $8.4 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will enhance the infrastructure of the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC), a health information exchange (HIE). The grant supports research that uses data from INPC in comparative effectiveness benefits and harms of three drugs used to treat Alzheimer's disease.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with several association and industry partners, has launched Million Hearts, an initiative that aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes in the U.S. over the next five years. Currently, cardiovascular disease (CVD) costs $444 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity for people living in the U.S.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality desperately needs to restructure the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which more than a dozen organizations claim suffers from a lack of transparency and nonrepresentation of key medical specialties.