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Posted on October 5, 2026

Timely CV Registry Certification Matters. Here’s Why.

A group of doctors and nurses collaborating on a laptop in a medical setting, focused on their task.

Recent updates to the ACC-NCDR’s CathPCI and CPMI registries have highlighted the importance of timely certification. When a third-party cardiovascular (CV) registry vendor falls behind on certification with major registries like ACC-NCDR, it can create challenges for data submission, reporting, and other critical registry workflows.

See why timely CV registry certification is such an important mark of trust between vendors and CV programs, and what to look for in a registry software partner to help keep your program current as registry requirements evolve.

Disrupted Data Risks Disrupted Reimbursement

National and State CV registries require timely submission to participate in their initiatives, and many CV programs rely on their third-party vendor tools to facilitate that data submission. Registries review the submitted data and provide feedback to hospitals in the form of outcome reports. These reports allow providers to identify areas for improvement and apply data-driven insights to their CV programs.

In the era of value-based care, efficiencies and outcomes are also closely tied to reimbursement, and when data submissions get interrupted, it may impact your hospital’s bottom line. Unfortunately, many CV programs saw this firsthand in 2026 when their vendors failed to achieve timely certification with the largest cardiovascular patient data repository in the U.S.

Without Timely Certification, Data Doesn’t Flow

Like all major CV registries, ACC-NCDR is constantly evolving. In July 2026, ACC-NCDR released new versions of three of its key registries, introducing greater efficiencies, streamlined workflows, and support for improved patient outcomes.

When new registry versions are released, it is the responsibility of CV registry vendors to keep their certifications current. Many third-party CV registry vendors failed to maintain a current ACC-NCDR certification alongside these registry updates, and their CV program partners were left unable to submit data.

When vendors do not keep their certifications current, CV programs pay the price. The disruptions to operational workflows and reporting create unnecessary stress, especially when coupled with the potential financial impact of delayed data submissions.

How to Choose the Right CV Registry Data Partner

Timely certification isn’t a “nice-to-have” feature; it’s a fundamental responsibility of a CV registry vendor. These considerations can help CV programs identify a registry partner that is committed to keeping them current and supporting their long-term success:

Timely Certification, Always: Staying current with evolving registry requirements helps minimize disruptions to data submission and reporting. A vendor’s certification track record can be an important indicator of its reliability as a long-term partner.
A Proactive Approach to Certification: The right CV registry vendor will plan for evolving requirements, and prepare its partners for upcoming changes. Look for a vendor that takes a proactive approach to certification rather than reacting after new requirements take effect.
Strong Registry Relationships: When CV registry vendors are in ongoing communication with major CV registries, they can keep their partners prepared for what’s on the horizon. Without those deep industry relationships, your CV program may risk falling behind

Stay Current with heartbase

If your CV registry vendor continues to fall behind on certifications, they may be putting your data submissions and revenue opportunities at risk. That’s one of the reasons why leading CV programs are making the switch to heartbase’s advanced cardiac registry software.

In July 2026, ACC-NCDR announced updates to three key cardiac registries. Heartbase achieved official certification for each new registry version: Version 5.1 of the CathPCI and Version 3.2 of the Chest Pain – MI (CPMI) Databases, and Version 3.0 of the IMPACT Database.

It’s this commitment to timely certification that keeps heartbase’s partners on the cutting edge of registry updates. Heartbase supports current versions of every major CV registry to keep your data submissions and revenue opportunities on track:

ACC-NCDR
Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
CMS and The Joint Commission
Get With the Guidelines (GWTG)
ELSO ECMO
State Registries

See why your peers are making the switch to heartbase. Download this white paper to explore how each heartbase solution is designed to leverage your CV registry data to keep your program moving forward.

Ready to see how heartbase can support your CV program? Schedule a personalized demo to explore heartbase’s registry solutions firsthand.

Book a Demo

Posted on July 28, 2026

Heartbase, Inc. is Certified in ACC-NCDR IMPACT v3.0

CHICAGO, IL – We are excited to announce that heartbase™ is officially certified by the ACC-NCDR for Version 3.0 of the IMPACT Database.

From the ACC-NCDR website:

“The IMPACT Registry is the ACC’s premier NCDR registry for pediatric and adult congenital heart disease (CHD) programs. Designed for Interventional Cardiology, Electrophysiology (EP) and Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device (CIED) procedures, the registry provides comprehensive, real-time data to help care teams track outcomes, benchmark performance, and optimize patient care across the lifespan.”

Participation offers:

Integration & Interoperability with other heartbase hbCOR registry events.
Interoperability options from other hospital systems, such as Epic Clarity, to allow for the pre-population of discrete fields.
A comprehensively streamlined & customizable electronic DCF, improving upon the flow and functionality of the ACC Online Tool, with options such as role-based access.
Simplified reporting with the hbQuery Tool, with measure reporting and other standard reports to follow.
Integration with the hbRecon Module to ensure procedures and conditions are correctly coded and billed, maximizing reimbursement.

Please contact support@heartbase.net to schedule your update.

About heartbase, Inc.

Heartbase™ is a privately-held company founded in 1992 and designed to be intuitive & centered on the needs of the clinician. Since our inception, we have known that the most effective way to develop a robust and reflexive software platform is through collegial partnerships with our clinical & financial users. Working directly with our customers – listening to their concerns and honoring their suggestions for improvement – allows us to build a tool that is fast, efficient, and tailored specifically to the individual needs of each healthcare institution.

Our primary major business lines are the following: hbCOR, Data Capture & Reporting; hbAnalytics, Realtime Clinical & Financial Dashboards; hbRecon, Coding Reconciliation & Revenue Generation; & hbNote, Data First Structured Reporting.

Posted on July 2, 2026

Heartbase is Certified in ACC-NCDR CathPCI v5.1 and CPMI v3.2

CHICAGO, IL – We are excited to announce that heartbase™ is officially certified by the ACC-NCDR for Version 5.1 of the CathPCI and 3.2 of the Chest Pain – MI (CPMI) Databases.

From the ACC-NCDR website:

“The CathPCI Registry® assesses the characteristics, treatments and outcomes of cardiac disease patients who receive diagnostic catheterization and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures. This powerful tool, available for any facility that performs PCI, captures the data that measure adherence to ACC/AHA clinical practice guideline recommendations, procedure performance standards and appropriate use criteria (AUC) for coronary revascularization.”

“For more than a decade, the Chest Pain – MI Registry® has been the single, most trusted source for outcomes-based, continuous quality improvement and remains the go-to registry for hospitals and health systems applying American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) clinical guideline recommendations. With expanded data capture and flexibility, you can customize your use of the registry to meet your needs!”

Participation offers:

Integration & Interoperability with other heartbase hbCOR registry events.
Interoperability options from other hospital systems, such as Epic Clarity, to allow for the pre-population of discrete fields.
A comprehensively streamlined & customizable electronic DCF, improving upon the flow and functionality of the ACC Online Tool, with options such as role-based access.
Simplified reporting with the hbQuery Tool, with measure reporting and other standard reports to follow.
Integration with the hbRecon Module to ensure CathPCI and CPMI cases are correctly coded and billed, maximizing reimbursement.
hbAnalytics integration for data visualizations and reporting with a multitude of official and custom metrics/measures.

Please contact support@heartbase.net to schedule your update.

About heartbase, Inc.

Posted on May 22, 2026

The Role of Coding Accuracy in Enhancing TAVR Risk Adjustment: Findings From a Pilot Study

For CV programs, documentation issues can cause significant reimbursement shortfalls downstream. That was the case at Chandler Regional Medical Center (Chandler), whose CV program was experiencing a mismatch between actual patient acuity and the billing data.

With help from heartbase, Chandler improved documentation issues around heart failure (HF) and recouped a six-figure revenue over a six-month period.

Pilot Study Rationale: Skewed Documentation, Inaccurate Revenue

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedures are not known as major drivers of revenue; profit margins are incredibly tight given the cost of the device. Even so, Chandler’s TAVR revenue was strikingly low for the number of procedures that they were performing.

With some digging, the Chandler team found that the vast majority of their TAVR procedures were coded as MS-DRG 267, reflecting a valve replacement without any major complications or comorbidities (MCC).

That was an immediate red flag to Kerry Webb, MBA, BSN, RN, who was a Sr. Data Analyst at Chandler Regional Medical Center at the time of the study. “Chandler serves a high-acuity patient population where heart failure is very prevalent,” she shares. “We knew that patient acuity was high, but somehow it wasn’t being represented through documentation.”

Had those patients’ HF been properly documented, the cases would instead be coded as MS-DRG 266. That code documents HF (acute or acute-on-chronic) as an MCC and is reimbursed roughly $10k more per procedure than MS-DRG 267.

“When you do upwards of 170 TAVR cases a year, that $10k difference really adds up to a significant amount of money,” shares Webb, MBA, BSN, RN.

MS-DRG Code	Procedure	MCC	Approx. Reimbursement (2026)
266	Endovascular Cardiac Valve Procedures	With	$44,595
267	Endovascular Cardiac Valve Procedures	Without	$34,643

Two Keys to Improving Documentation

With a team of 71 cardiologists, Chandler needed an easy-to-use solution to accurately capture HF for their TAVR patients. Two solutions held the key to success.

First, the data analysis and cardiology teams collaborated to develop a standardized Heart Failure Supplemental Documentation Form (Form). With simple checkboxes, the Form accurately documents HF type and acuity before every TAVR procedure. The Form is a permanent addition to the workflow for TAVR procedures, and the provided information is added to the patient’s chart.

Just as critically, the team began using heartbase’s hbRecon solution for TAVR procedures. hbRecon leverages robust clinical registry data for coding reconciliation, ensuring that accurate clinical data is represented in billing.

hbRecon compares the coding data with the TAVR patient data captured in the ACC/STS TVT Registry Database. While both coding and registry data are captured from the EHR, they have different definitional requirements. By identifying mismatches between these two sources, hbRecon can flag cases where HF may have been present but not properly documented.

hbRecon serves as a critical safety net, assisting with appropriately documenting patient acuity and accurately capturing revenue. For Chandler, hbRecon delivered promising results quickly.

Improved Clinical Outcomes: Significantly Improved O/E Ratio

Chandler saw significant clinical improvements after implementing heartbase for TAVR procedures. Accurately capturing HF enabled Chandler to gain a clearer understanding of preprocedural risk for their patients—and the results were noticeable almost immediately.

“For TAVR procedures, our O/E ratio for 30-day mortality historically sat around 1.2,” explains Webb, MBA, BSN, RN. Ideally, that number should hover around 1.0. “We were on the high side because our documentation didn’t accurately reflect how sick our patients were. In just three weeks, heartbase had a profound impact.”

Within three weeks of the pilot study’s kickoff, heartbase helped lower Chandler’s O/E ratio to 1.16. That number improved to 1.01 after just three months of using heartbase, bringing Chandler in line with the industry standard.

“Our new O/E ratio more appropriately reflects the acuity of our TAVR patient population, and demonstrates the excellent care we’re able to provide,” shares Webb, MBA, BSN, RN.

30-Day Mortality O/E Ratio for TAVR Procedures
Before heartbase	1.21
3 Weeks With heartbase	1.16
3 Months With heartbase	1.01

Improved Financial Outcomes: Six Figures Recouped in Six Months

By ensuring that patient acuity was properly represented with MS-DRG 266, heartbase helped Chandler recoup a significant amount of revenue for their TAVR procedures. Within six months of the pilot study, heartbase helped Chandler secure an additional $370,000 in revenue.

“The reason heartbase allows us to capture more accurate revenue is that it assists us in educating our clinicians,” shares Webb, MBA, BSN, RN. “We’re educating them on what ‘acute’ means for heart failure, and why it matters. Heartbase gives them an easier way to document their patient’s diagnosis so that we’re reimbursed appropriately.”

The success with heartbase set the stage for the Chandler team to hit future revenue goals.

“Our cath lab was facing a 100-day workout to produce an additional $500,000 in revenue,” explains Webb, MBA, BSN, RN. “Once our cath lab director heard that our pilot with heartbase recouped nearly ¾ of that amount, she was excited to implement heartbase across other procedures.”

The promising outcomes with TAVR procedures led Chandler to quickly adopt the same heartbase process for their entire TVT program. Today, the hospital uses heartbase to promote clinical and financial accuracy for every TAVR, M-TEER, T-TEER, TMVR, and TTVR procedure.

Unlock Stronger Clinical and Financial Outcomes With Heartbase

Heartbase is the first solution of its kind to leverage CV data and account for MCC capture, improving both clinical and financial outcomes for procedures such as TAVR. See the full Chandler pilot study for more details on their success with heartbase, or schedule a demo to see how hbRecon can support your own CV program.

Pilot Study

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Posted on May 12, 2026

Heartbase Virtual User Conference 2026

Join us June 16–18 for the 2026 heartbase Virtual User Conference. Designed for clinicians, coders, and cardiovascular teams, the conference will feature product training, upcoming enhancements, workflow tips, and real-world insights from heartbase users and partners. Learn how to get even more value from solutions like hbCOR and hbRecon while staying up to date on what’s ahead.

This complimentary online event is open to all heartbase users and invited guests. Register below to reserve your spot! Please note, you will need to register for each conference day, not by session.

Register here: https://heartbase.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/45322914557581-2026-Heartbase-Virtual-User-Conference-Schedule-Register-Here

If you are unable to access your Knowledgebase account, please contact Sophia Gawrit (Sophiagawrit@heartbase.net) to ensure your account is properly provisioned.

Interested in attending but not currently a heartbase client? Please reach out to Sophia Gawrit (Sophiagawrit@heartbase.net) for additional information.

Posted on April 1, 2026

hbRecon Success Demonstrated in JACC Case Report

JACC Case Reports Volume 30, Number 36 features an exciting article that shows how Chandler Regional Medical Center used heartbase’s hbRecon toolkit to correct documentation issues around heart failure, improve the accuracy of patient acuity, and recoup six-figure revenue over a six-month period.

Congratulations to the article authors, Omar Rizvi, Rachel M. Bond, Kerry A. Webb, Angelina R.R. Erwin, Jessica Parsons, and Dan Inder S. Sraow!

For more information, read the full article on the JACC website here: Click Here

Project Summary

A multidisciplinary team implemented a standardized form, tracking processes using a third-party registry vendor tool (hbCOR and hbRecon), and weekly/monthly reviews. This intervention significantly increased the accurate capture of heart failure and Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group 266 coding, resulting in an estimated $414K revenue increase over 6-month time frame and improved preprocedural risk evaluation, demonstrating that simple coding and documentation practices can substantially enhance both financial and clinical outcomes

Posted on March 25, 2026

Building a Stronger heartbase, Part 3: hbAnalytics + hbRecon

a female healthcare professional sitting at a desk and typing on a laptop

CV programs generate a tremendous amount of data. Collecting, analyzing, and ultimately acting on that data is what separates the programs that succeed from those that struggle. For many leading CV programs across the country, heartbase is the key to more successfully managing and leveraging their clinical and financial data.

Between hbCOR, hbNote, and hbAnalytics, heartbase offers innovative solutions for every side of the data equation—and they work even better together. hbRecon is the key to delivering even stronger results for your program’s clinical insights and financial goals.

Part 1 of this blog series covered how hbCOR and hbRecon make collecting and acting on your CV data simple. Part 2 showed how hbNote and hbRecon help CV programs get ahead of costly coding mistakes. Here in Part 3, we’ll show how hbRecon works toward the same goal as hbAnalytics, heartbase’s solution for real-time clinical and financial dashboards.

hbAnalytics: Meaningful Metrics for Real-Time Insights

Even if your program has mastered the art of capturing CV data, many run into the same issue: what does it all mean, and what do you do with it?

hbAnalytics is purpose-built to help CV programs see the full picture of their data and understand the path forward. By merging clinical and financial reporting, hbAnalytics gives clinicians and hospitals the real-time insights they need to strengthen their research, improve patient care, and reduce costs.

The metrics that matter: hbAnalytics consolidates clinical or merged clinical and financial data to easily compare performance by various parameters across your network, divisions or regions, facilities, and providers with patient-level drillthrough.
Visual dashboards: Simply visualize your CV datasets with dynamic graphs, benchmarks, metric performances, contribution margins, COE goals, and more. hbAnalytics supports STS and ACC-NCDR dashboards, with multiple channels of distribution.
Custom reports: Quickly and easily generate custom reports with graphical renderings, and automatically distribute them to authorized users. Optionally integrating clinical registry data with coding and financial data enables reporting on a variety of financial parameters, providing deeper insight into your bottom line.

hbRecon: CV Data Alignment for More Accurate Revenue

Clinicians and coding teams don’t always see eye to eye. Whether it’s unclear clinical documentation or missing information entirely, the data that’s passed between the clinical side of your business and the coding side can leave critical and costly information on the cutting room floor. That misalignment can have six-figure repercussions for your revenue.

hbRecon helps CV programs overcome alignment discrepancies and ensure that the clinician’s insights and documentation are captured and represented on the coding side. By extrapolating your CV registry data, hbRecon suggests an appropriate medical billing code (MS DRG, ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS, CDM) for the procedure that accurately reflects the services provided and the patient’s conditions, securing the appropriate reimbursement.

A single source of truth: Clinical registry, coding, and financial datasets often exist in siloes. hbRecon brings those disparate datasets together side by side in a single intuitive interface. This approach uncovers potential documentation gaps that would otherwise leave major revenue on the table.
Clinician and coder collaboration: Clinicians aren’t taught to code. Likewise, coders aren’t versed in the clinical nuances of CV procedures. hbRecon acts as a translator, giving both teams a shared platform to voice their needs and do their jobs efficiently.
Streamline operations: When the speed bumps on the path to revenue are paved flat, a stronger bottom line often follows. Many leading CV programs use the revenue unlocked with hbRecon to invest in their teams, equipment, and overall operations.

hbAnalytics + hbRecon: Deeper Insights for Informed Improvements

When clinical and financial data work together, CV programs can truly achieve more. While they operate as separate platforms, hbAnalytics and hbRecon use overlapping data sources to offer thorough insights of your program’s performance, both clinically and financially.

This holistic approach provides immediate feedback on the measures that deliver the greatest impact on patient care and your bottom line. Many of heartbase’s clients leverage those insights to demonstrate the success of their CV programs and communicate opportunities for improvement.

“That’s why you collect the data: to improve outcomes for the patients in your community,” shares Karen G. McNickle, RN, MSN, former Manager of Cardiovascular Services, Data and Quality at one of heartbase’s hospital clients. “hbRecon helps us accurately document the severity of our patients’ illnesses and receive appropriate financial compensation to pour back into improving our CV program.”

Through coding reconciliation and rebilling with hbRecon and process improvements with hbAnalytics, hospitals that employ a unified heartbase workflow more easily identify areas of opportunity for their CV programs.

“hbAnalytics provides us with real-time dashboards we can use to audit our data and distribute scorecards to help reach our performance goals. The Center of Excellence dashboards allow us to set internal benchmarks and to identify hospital and network performance on priority outcomes and other important metrics, delivering actionable insights from a governed, single source of truth.”

-Jerod Weimer, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital

Build a Stronger heartbase Workflow Today

Throughout this blog series, you’ve learned how hbRecon unlocks the full potential of the unified heartbase workflow with hbCOR, hbNote, and hbAnalytics. Together, heartbase has helped CV programs master their data and make significant improvements in operations, patient outcomes, and revenue capture.

Let’s put our heads together and see how hbRecon, hbAnalytics, and the rest of the heartbase suite can move your CV program forward.

Request Demo

Posted on January 12, 2026

Building a Stronger heartbase, Part 2: hbNote + hbRecon

A doctor sits at a desk reviewing information on a tablet in a modern office with a monitor showing X-rays.

There’s a reason why heartbase is the heart of leading CV programs across the nation. Heartbase solutions, such as hbCOR, hbNote, and hbAnalytics, provide critical automation to streamline CV workflows, built-in compliance tools to meet regulatory requirements, and powerful interoperability to reveal meaningful financial and clinical insights.

While each heartbase solution was designed to bring substantial value on its own, they work even better together. hbRecon helps unlock the full potential of your unified heartbase workflow to deliver even deeper insights and revenue opportunities.

In Part 1 of this blog series, we showed how hbCOR and hbRecon work together to deliver more accurate data and actionable insights for your bottom line. Here in Part 2, we’ll explore how hbRecon brings out the full potential of hbNote, heartbase’s solution for data-first structured reporting.

hbNote: Simpler Reporting, Easier Compliance

Structured Reporting (SR) is critical to CV success, but many solutions on the market leave discrepancies between the coding & patient records and the physician’s final report. That gap doesn’t just complicate the paper trail; it can expose your CV program to real risk during an audit.

hbNote is a data-first approach to SR. By automatically generating narrative reports through an innovative side-by-side data collection workspace, hbNote minimizes registry and other clinical data collection and ensures that the physician’s final report always aligns with the coding & patient records.

Automation and ease of use. As data is entered, hbNote automatically renders an export-ready narrative report in real time. Providers can add additional text via keyboard or popular dictation software like Dragon Medical One. An interactive coronary tree is also available to note grafts and stenosis values, giving users a single, simple interface to generate comprehensive reports with ease.
Advanced customization. While hbNote offers standardized interfaces and templates for each procedure, they can be easily customized to user- and site-specific needs. Providers can adjust templates on the fly, adding sections, paragraphs, dynamic tables, and other styles and formatting options.
Built for compliance. hbNote’s templates and workflows adhere to the Health Policy Statement for structured reporting for the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and IHE Cardiac Procedure note (CPN). This consideration supports common registry goals and maximizes compliance to MACRA and MIPS.
Billing and coding integration. Based on the clinical data elements collected, hbNote generates recommended CPT, ICD-10, HCPCS, and MS-DRG codes, ensuring that the correct language is used to maximize reimbursement.

hbRecon: Clinical and Coding Data, Unified

Many CV programs don’t realize that they’re leaving major revenue on the table. The truth is that there are six-figure billing opportunities being missed constantly, and it all comes down to a language barrier between clinicians and coders. Without cross-communication, nuances about a CV procedure, like complications and comorbidities, are easily missed on the coding side. What’s harder to miss is the impact it can have on your cash flow.

hbRecon is a purpose-built solution for coding reconciliation and revenue capture. It analyzes your CV data to suggest an appropriate MS-DRG code for each procedure, making sure those costly nuances are recognized, coded, and ultimately billed appropriately.

One interface for more accurate billing. By consolidating clinical registry, coding, and financial datasets in one intuitive interface, hbRecon makes it easier for coders to uncover costly gaps in CV procedure documentation. Coders can view all relevant data side by side and identify costly discrepancies before they impact your bottom line.
Clinicians and coders, aligning at last. Say goodbye to the silo. hbRecon provides a platform for cross-departmental collaboration between clinicians and coders. With shared meetings, emails, and monthly workbooks, both sides can voice their needs to streamline the data handoff.
The foundation for operational efficiency. Raises, bonuses, adopting new equipment—it’s all possible when your bottom line is stronger. However you choose to move your CV program forward, it’s easier when you unlock accurate cash flow with hbRecon.

hbNote + hbRecon: Greater Consistency, A Greater Safety Net for Your CV Program

No matter what side of the equation you look at, nothing trips up a CV program like data mismatches. When there’s a disconnect between what’s being documented on the patient record, the narrative report, and the eventual coding and billing of the procedure, it can cause costly stumbles in both compliance and potential revenue.

As a standalone solution, hbNote connects the dots between the clinical registry and other clinical data sources. This connection ensures that there’s always alignment between the physician’s final report, coding & billing (through coding recommendations), and the patient record.

Meanwhile, hbRecon ensures that all coding/billing opportunities are filed timely as additional clinical registry data is collected which hbNote may not account for, such as procedures that are documented in other software or dictated.

“hbRecon brings us full circle,” explains Beth Kennalley, RN, MSN, a Data Coordinator with one of hbRecon’s major hospital clients. “We see the original finding, which stays visible as clinicians and coders continue to add their own findings. That approach allows us to go back and forth to discuss changes.”

Kennalley continues, “At the end of the process, we can all see the exact information that goes to billing. The collaboration helps us make changes and improve our performance over time. It’s been a big win for us.”

hbNote is an invaluable tool to push those changes and improvements forward. Thanks to its flexibility and customization, providers can easily adjust their narrative reports to include any additional information requested by your coding team, ensuring data is billed correctly without necessitating a rebill. These adjustments can be saved to heartbase’s hbNote resource library for easy access in the future, so collecting that helpful additional data becomes part of your clinical team’s standard operating procedure.

A Stronger heartbase Workflow Starts Here

Don’t let data mismatches trip you up. A unified heartbase workflow based on hbNote and hbRecon can boost the integrity and actionability of your data to move your CV program forward. Let’s put a personalized demo on your calendar, and you’ll see how your heartbase workflow can do even more with hbNote and hbRecon.

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Posted on December 10, 2025

Heartbase, Inc., Certified in STS General Thoracic Surgery Database v5.26.1

CHICAGO, IL – We are excited to announce that heartbase™ is officially certified by the STS for the General Thoracic Surgery Database v5.26.1. On January 8th, 2026, at 2:30 pm CT, heartbase clinical specialist Carmen Ernst, RN, BSN, will hold a special training class covering the ins and outs of this version. Heartbase customers can click here to register.

From the STS website:

The STS General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD) is the largest and most robust clinical thoracic surgical database in North America. The GTSD contains nearly 800,000 general thoracic surgery procedure records and currently has more than 900 participating surgeons.”

Participation offers:

Integration & Interoperability with other heartbase hbCOR registry events.
Interoperability options from other hospital systems, such as Epic Clarity, to allow for the pre-population of discrete fields.
A comprehensively streamlined & customizable electronic DCF, improving upon the flow and functionality of the STS Online Tool, with options such as role-based access.
Simplified reporting with the hbQuery Tool, with measure reporting and other standard reports to follow.
Integration with the hbRecon Module to ensure GTSD cases are correctly coded and billed, maximizing reimbursement.
Planned hbAnalytics updates to include new dashboards and associated breakout reports.

If you’re an STS data manager or abstractor and would like to take a look at our new forms, please contact heartbase Director of Client Accounts Alex Potanos to schedule a review session.

About heartbase, Inc.

Posted on November 18, 2025

Building a Stronger heartbase, Part 1: hbCOR + hbRecon

A woman in blue scrubs is speaking on the phone, appearing engaged in a conversation.

For leading cardiovascular programs across the U.S., their custom heartbase workflow is a driver of success across the board. heartbase solutions like hbCOR, hbNote, and hbAnalytics streamline workflows, unearth actionable data, and unlock greater insights into the financial and clinical performance of their program.

Each heartbase solution was designed to have a powerful impact in a key area of cardiovascular (CV) data capture, reporting, and analytics. They work seamlessly together with hbRecon as the connective tissue that helps programs like yours do more with their data.

Follow along throughout this blog series, where we’ll explore how hbRecon works together with other heartbase solutions to unlock greater outcomes for your CV program. In Part 1, we’re covering how hbRecon is a perfect partner for hbCOR, heartbase’s solution for streamlined CV data collection.

hbCOR: Data Capture Made Simple

Every year, clinical data sets become increasingly complex. CV programs find themselves juggling more registry requirements than ever across various systems, and capturing it all can feel like a Herculean task—not to mention ensuring that the data is accurate and reliable.

hbCOR is the easier way to capture CV data. With support for submission and collection from every major CV registry, hbCOR arms your team with standardized, validated data they can trust at every step. Check out the features that are included with hbCOR below:

hbAudit: Data validation & pre-harvest checks. hbCOR’s hbAudit feature validates CV data as it is entered in real time, automatically flagging any entries that look incomplete or out of the ordinary. When it’s time for submission, hbCOR runs a pre-harvest check to ensure 100% accuracy before the data is passed downstream.
hbReporting & hbQuery: Pre-generated report templates & ad hoc reporting. hbCOR’s hbReporting feature houses an extensive library of clinically meaningful reports that the average user can run without any special knowledge. With hbQuery, clinical staff can easily generate reports on demand and access all clinical data points for a patient population over a specified time period.
hbInteroperability: Integrate clinical data from various IT sources. Between EMR, hemodynamics systems, billing software, and other sources, it can be tricky for CV programs to manage all of the data at their fingertips. hbCOR’s hbInteroperability feature automatically pre-populates data from these disparate sources, cutting down on the burden of data abstraction.

hbRecon: CV Data and Coding Reconciliation

When CV clinical and coding datasets are not aligned, there’s six-figure revenue at stake—and it happens in CV programs across the country more often than you might realize. Clinical documentation often lacks the required specificity that coders need to appropriately code CV procedures, especially complications and comorbidities, leaving major reimbursement opportunities on the table.

hbRecon breaks down this costly barrier and helps clinicians and coders find alignment. Extrapolating your CV data allows hbRecon to recommend an appropriate MS-DRG code for the procedure, leading to more accurate revenue capture.

Clinical registry, coding, and financial datasets in one place. hbRecon consolidates all of the data needed for accurate billing, uncovering potential gaps in documentation. This thorough process reduces underbilling and overbilling by flagging discrepancies between clinical data and coding.
Cross-departmental collaboration. Clinicians and coders are often siloed, with neither having visibility into the other. heartbase facilitates communication between these two departments through monthly workbooks, emails, and meetings, to ensure both sides understand what the other needs to do their job efficiently.
Institutional enhancements. More accurate revenue often leads to a fortified bottom line, which many leaders reinvest in their CV programs. hbRecon is the first step toward hiring new staff, giving raises and bonuses, investing in new equipment, and other ways to move your program forward.

hbCOR + hbRecon: More Accurate Data, More Actionable Outcomes for Your Bottom Line

When data is reliable and accurate, your CV program’s bottom line flourishes. That’s the reality for the leading CV programs that lean on hbCOR paired with hbRecon.

On its own, hbCOR’s extensive data cleanup tools ensure that your CV registry is as accurate as possible from the earliest stages. When hbRecon is brought into the picture, it serves as a final audit, then uses that accurate registry data to correct and improve coding—and thus, your program’s ability to capture more accurate revenue.

Many heartbase customers use that improved revenue to justify improvements to their CV program. Take it from Kerry Webb, MBA, BSN, RN, an RN CV Quality Data Analyst at a healthcare network with more than 40 hospitals and care centers across the U.S.

“hbRecon has given us a different language to speak to our physicians and our stakeholders,” she shares. “We can talk in dollars and cents, so we can show the impact our program has on patient care. Getting new equipment, hiring the top talent, taking care of our people—it’s all on the table when we’re armed with data hbRecon gives us.”

hbCOR paired with hbRecon ensures that your registry and coding data are always in alignment—a critical factor in the event of a CMS audit. From boosting your bottom line to safeguarding your compliance, the combined hbCOR + hbRecon workflow is a winning combination for CV programs.

Unlock a Stronger heartbase Workflow

With hbCOR and hbRecon working together as part of a unified heartbase workflow, CV programs can rely on trustworthy, actionable data to impact their bottom line. Schedule your personalized demo to see how a heartbase workflow based on hbCOR and hbRecon can help your CV program flourish.

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