The
ACC on March 12 sent a letter expressing support for the “Congenital
Heart Futures Act,” which would increase awareness and
public education surrounding congenital heart disease, to
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), who introduced the bill. The
bill would provide funding to educate the public and health
care professionals; create a registry to collect and store
data to track demographics, risk factors, causation and treatment
approaches; and create an Advisory Committee on Congenital
Heart Disease. The letter is available here.
MedPAC
Recommends Physician Payment Update
The
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recently released
its annual report to Congress on Medicare Payment Policy.
The report recommends that Congress update Medicare physician
payments by 1.1 percent in 2010. It also recommends that Congress
direct the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Services to increase the equipment use standard for expensive
imaging machines, such as CT, MRI and PET, from 25 hours to
45 hours a week. MedPAC recommends that the change should
redistribute relative value units from expensive imaging to
other physician services. The report is available online.
REGULATORY
Today!
CMS, ACC to Hold CV-Focused PQRI Forum It
is not too late to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting
Initiative (PQRI) for 2009! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) and the ACC later today will hold a special
Open Door Forum for cardiovascular professionals interested
in participating or who currently participate in PQRI. The
call, which will be held from 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. EST, will
provide a detailed overview of the PQRI measures that can
be reported by cardiologists in 2009. The Open Door Forum
can be accessed by calling 1-800-837-1935 (Conference ID 89036042),
and more information, including slides, can be found here.
More information about PQRI can be found at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI.
Obama
Announces FDA Pick
President
Barack Obama on March 14 announced the appointments of Margaret
Hamburg, M.D., as the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), and Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., as the agency’s
Principal Deputy Commissioner. Dr. Hamburg served as the Nuclear
Threat Initiative's founding Vice President for the Biological
Program, and was the Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Sharfstein is Commissioner of Health for the City of Baltimore,
and has been recognized as a national leader for his efforts
to protect children from unsafe jewelry and over-the-counter
medication. More coverage is available from ACC’s online
forum, The
Lewin Report. A video
of the announcement is also available.
FDA
News Updates The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified health care
professionals of a Class 1 Recall of certain models of Baxter’s
Colleague Single and Triple Channel Volumetric Infusion Pumps,
manufactured and distributed from February 1997 - December
2008. The company identified software and battery usage failures
that result in a delay in or interruption of infusion that
may cause serious injury and/or death. The MedWatch 2009 safety
summary is available online.
FDA has
approved an abbreviated new drug application for Ranbaxy Laboratories
Limited to market and manufacture Ramipril 5-mg and 10-mg
capsules. FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs determined Ramipril
has the same therapeutic effect as Altace, manufactured by
King Pharmaceuticals, which is intended to reduce the risk
of death from cardiovascular disease. Additional
coverage is available from Cardiovascular Business
magazine.
QUALITY
Moving
Toward Continuous Cardiac Care ACC
President-elect Alfred Bove, M.D., F.A.C.C., discusses the
importance of patient-centered care and a new ACC initiative,
the Year of the Patient, as the March contributor to ACC’s
online forum, The Lewin Report. Dr. Bove writes that
a “commitment to good patient care [is what] the ACC
wishes to emphasize in the Year of the Patient. The emphasis
is not only on respecting the cardiologist who provides continuous
cardiac care to keep patients active and symptom-free, but
also in bringing patients into the care team and empowering
them to participate in their care decisions.” Read Dr.
Bove’s post in full here
and share your thoughts!
Also,
check back with The Lewin Report in coming weeks for sneak
previews and exciting live coverage of ACC.09 in Orlando.
The posts will feature programming highlights and special
announcements from the meeting, as well as thought-provoking
discussions. The
Lewin Report will also have more information on how
to follow ACC.09 on Twitter.com,
a real-time messaging service.
ACC
Celebrates Louise Liang of Kaiser Permanente
The
ACC on March 12 celebrated the accomplishments of Louise Liang,
M.D., a senior consultant at Kaiser Permanente, in promoting
higher quality and value in the health care sector. Dr. Liang,
a champion and innovator of patient-centered quality and outcomes
improvement, spoke of her experiences with the launch of Kaiser
Permanente’s electronic health record (EHR) and personal
health record (PHR), HealthConnect.
HealthConnect,
which include ambulatory- and hospital-based EHRs and a PHR,
contributed to a decline in annual office visits of 26.2 percent
between 2004 and 2007, Dr. Liang told the group of health
care leaders. Meanwhile, scheduled telephone visits increase
eight-fold, secure e-mail messaging increased six-fold and
overall patient contact increased 8.3 percent. The results
indicate that unnecessary or marginally productive office
visits are reduced or replaced with telephone visits and e-mails,
while maintaining quality and satisfaction, Dr. Liang said.
She added that the broad implementation and use of a combined
EHR/PHR is well-received by health care professionals and
patients because of its perceived value.
ACC
Presents Quality First at National P4P Summit
ACC
Vice President Ralph Brindis, M.D., F.A.C.C., and CEO Jack
Lewin, M.D., last week presented at the 2009 National Pay-for-Performance
Summit on the topic of “Aligning Payment, Accountability
and Opportunity in Specialty Care.” At the conference,
Dr. Brindis discussed the components and success of the National
Cardiovascular Data Registry. Dr. Lewin outlined the principles
of the Quality First campaign, the College’s health
care reform initiative, as well as ACC’s ideas for national
health care reform. For more about Quality First, visit: qualityfirst.acc.org.
Don’t
Miss the ACC.09 Quality Track!
Don’t
miss the quality track at ACC.09! The quality track provides
a great opportunity to hear about ACC quality efforts already
underway, as well as learn about innovative ways to improve
quality of care and empower patients. ACC’s quality
efforts are represented by Quality First, the College’s
health care reform campaign. Learn more at qualityfirst.acc.org.
Also, look for the Quality First survey in your portfolio
bag. Turn in your completed survey at ACC Central (Booth #2062)
for a free gift!
On Sunday, plan to attend the ACC.09 Scientific Showcase in
the Orange County Convention Center, Hall A2, from 8 –
9:30 a.m. The quality-themed event features the Simon Dack
Lecture by Princeton University economics professor Uwe Reinhardt;
presidential address by ACC President Douglas Weaver, M.D.,
F.A.C.C.; and an JUPITER trial presentation. Later on Sunday,
attend the Louis F. Bishop Lecture, featuring health care
economist Len Nichols, Ph.D., on “What Health Care Reform
Will Cost Us: And Why Doing Nothing Will Cost Us Even More!”
The lecture will take place from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Room
W311A.
IOM
Requests Public Input on Comparative Research Priorities
The
Institute of Medicine (IOM) has requested public input on
priorities for comparative effectiveness research (CER) as
called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009. In addition to allocating $400 million to the Secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Services for CER, the
legislation mandates that the IOM produce and submit a consensus
report by June 30, 2009, that provides specific recommendations
to Congress and the Secretary for expenditure of these funds.
The recommendations must consider public input. The ACC is
currently drafting its recommendations for submission and
CEO Jack Lewin, M.D., will attend the public meeting scheduled
for Friday, March 20. Comments are due March 27th. More information
can be found here.
Administration
Launches Health Reform Web Site
The
Obama administration has launched a new Web site on health
reform, http://www.healthreform.gov.
The Web site lists upcoming regional events by state; provides
more information on the health provisions of the budget; features
stories from Americans about health care; and includes a method
of submitting questions and comments on health care reform.
The Web site is an ideal place for Chapter members to get
involved in regional events that will affect the national
debate. Visit
the Web site now.
Enrollment
in Medical Schools Increasing
The
Associated
Press/Chicago Tribune last week reported that “[r]esponding
to warnings of a looming doctor shortage, existing schools
are increasing enrollment, and new ones are opening or under
development” across the country. According to the AP/Tribune,
the number of accredited medical schools will grow in 2009
from 126 to 130, with five additional schools applying for
accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
Meanwhile, currently accredited schools in 2008 accepted 18,036
new medical students, up 9.1 percent from 2003.
