Strategies to move more quickly to correct congenital heart defects can lower costs without affecting safety, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Steps such as admitting patients the day of surgery led to costs that were one-third lower. The study looked at repair of atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center before and after the steps were implemented, and the data were compared to results from 40 other centers.