How to make a $1 million in cardiology 26. May 2006 William Davis (0) Want to make a $1,000,000 as a cardiologist in the next year? It's easy. All you have to do is:1) Perform heart catheterizations or other procedures on anybody you can, even if it's not necessary. Perform them even if the patient has no symptoms and the stress test is normal. 2) Perform heart catheterizations if the patient is too timid or ill-informed to object. 3) Insert coronary stents in blockages, even when they're minor and it's not necessary. 4) Turn every heart procedure into a revenue-producing stream by looking for other profit opportunties, such as minor kidney artery blockages. 5) Heart disease is frightening. Scare the heck out of patients by exagerrating the dangers so they'll go through testing and procedures gratefully. Sound absurd? Well, it would be if these weren't all true.These are real examples, as awful as it sounds. I've witnessed all these behaviors. Not just occasionally, but with regularity. Just today, I encountered a colleague who performs heart catheterizations routinely (up to several per day) when any symptom is present and the stress test is entirely normal. This is grossly inappropriate.Your protection is being better-informed and avoid being sucked into the vast and frightening cardiovascular machine of revenue-yielding procedures. Part of your protection is to get a CT heart scan, then engage in a program of heart disease prevention.