Take Part in ACC’s Virtual Legislative Conference
The ACC’s 2007 Legislative Conference will take place Sept. 16-18 in Washington, D.C. You can help strengthen the impact of the more than 250 ACC members visiting lawmakers in person, by participating in the ACC’s 3rd Annual Virtual Legislative Conference. Beginning Monday, Sept. 17, you can visit the ACC’s Virtual Legislative Conference web site and read about the exciting events taking place at the Legislative Conference. (Click here to access the site.) Throughout the week, you can join the voices of your colleagues on Capitol Hill by contacting your members of Congress using the ACC’s CardioAdvocacy Network (www.acc.org/can). Participation in the Virtual Legislative Conference only takes a few minutes, but will have a huge impact. Working together we can educate Congress about the critical issues facing our patients and practices both now and into the future.

NPI Data Dissemination Tool Released
CMS released its long awaited NPI Registry to the public last week. The tool allows physicians and practices to search for any health care provider's NPI using a person's name, city, state and zip code. Medicare is attempting to resolve provider concerns about receiving timely and accurate information from other providers. Additionally, CMS released a downloadable file, but cautions providers against using it because Medicare will not provide any technical support and the file contains millions of records. ACC encourages its members and cardiac care teams to verify their information, by going to: https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/NPPES/NPIRegistryHome.do

CMS Releases Phase III Physician Self-Referral Rule; ACC Reviewing
CMS last week issued its Phase III Physician Self-Referral Final Rule, which takes effect on Dec. 4. The final rule largely clarifies what was previously enacted in Phases I and II of the Physician Self-Referral rule. Specifically, CMS includes specific responses to the many public requests for explanations of various provisions (mostly pertaining to the Phase II, issued in 2004), as well as for evaluations of whether the elements of a particular arrangement comply with the rule. ACC Regulatory staff is currently evaluating the rule, and will provide members a summary shortly. In the meantime, general questions related to the rule should be directed to Sergio Santiviago in ACC Regulatory Affairs (ssantivi@acc.org). Please note however, that ACC staff cannot provide legal advice. The ACC strongly recommends members seek legal counsel licensed in their state for questions on whether personal practice arrangements comply with the rule.

Generic Versions of Blood Pressure/Heart Failure Drug Coreg Approved
The FDA has approved the first generic versions of Coreg (carvedilol), a widely used drug for treating high blood pressure, mild-to-severe chronic heart failure, and left ventricular dysfunction following a heart attack. The generic drugs use the same active ingredients as brand-name drugs and work the same way. For the complete release, go to:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01695.html

Quality Improvement Classes Educate Doctors, Don’t Improve Outcomes
Mandatory classes designed to improve the quality of medical care seem to successfully educate doctors about new concepts but don't necessarily improve patient outcomes, according to an article review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Identifying and fixing problems is something that doctors have learned to do when faced with diseases, but those problem-solving skills don't necessarily translate into identifying or fixing health care systems in a hospital even after taking special classes," says Romsai Boonyasai, an internist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and co-author of the of the review which examined articles on quality improvement (QI) curricula. For more, go to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81686.php.

This Month in Cardiology Magazine
The September issue of Cardiology is in the mail. Don't miss a profile of an Eastern Kentucky medical center that has found D2B success; an article by Janet Wright, M.D., F.A.C.C., on the latest Medicare physician payment legislation before Congress and the need to refocus the debate on quality; a piece by Christopher Granger, M.D., F.A.C.C., and James Jollis, M.D., F.A.C.C., on the upstream race to reperfusion; and much more!