I was invited to present news from the Interventional Council and Section to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) leadership team. The entire team, including the CEO, presidential team, and leadership staff, was present. It was a tremendous opportunity to let the leadership know what is important to interventional cardiologists and to update them with our accomplishments in the council and section. They were very interested and receptive to what we had to tell them.

I stressed our disdain for the re-credentialing process in general and the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) in particular. We believe the current re-credentialing process is too expensive, onerous, time-consuming, and counter-productive, and that it does not enhance the care of patients or our professional satisfaction. Furthermore, there was near-unanimous support in our recent council and section meetings in San Diego for an alternative re-credentialing process, namely, the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons. A questioner asked whether an alternative re-credentialing process would "lower the bar" for our specialty; I strongly disagreed with that statement.

We briefly discussed the ACC National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) reporting of out-of-hospital (OOH) arrest patients. The leadership is aware that interventional cardiology strongly believes that OOH arrest patients should not be included in STEMI public reporting because this will lead to risk-averse behavior among our colleagues and institutions.

We also highlighted the Interventional Section Publications Work Group, led by Tanveer Rab, MBBS, FACC of Emory, as an example of how our council and section members are working to improve the care of patients in interventional cardiology. A manuscript prepared by this group that addresses the issue of treating OOH arrest patients is in the final stages of review by The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and we are hopeful for publication soon. The council is extremely proud of this publication, and we believe this will be an important addition to the medical literature.

Other topics that the publications work group is exploring in conjunction with George Vetrovec, MD, MACC, Editorial Team Lead for the ACC.org Invasive Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention Clinical Topic Collection, include:

• Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in surgically inoperable patients and public reporting;
• Interventional management of acute pulmonary embolism;
• Treatment of non-culprit lesions after STEMI and non-STEMI hospital discharge;
• The role of mechanical left ventricular support in the catheterization laboratory;
• Pre-procedure assessment of aortic stenosis; and
• The debate in clinical trials vs. clinical practice.

Skip Anderson, MD, FACC has been working to build a database of speakers who can respond to invitations to the College from our international colleagues and facilitate collaboration and learning on an international level. Dr. Anderson has also asked for volunteers to help in this endeavor, which is strongly endorsed by the ACC.

The council is also in the early stages of forming a structural heart disease working group, led by Joaquin Cigarroa, MD, FACC. This is a heart team concept and will include members with collaborative special interests outside of interventional cardiology, including but not limited to: general cardiologists, adult congenital cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, echocardiography/imaging specialists, electrophysiologists, cardiovascular team members, fellows in training, and anesthesiologists.

The council and section would like to continue to see a strong relationship between the ACC (aka, House of Cardiology) and Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) (aka, the Home of Interventional Cardiology), as we look to both organizations for leadership in the field. The ACC leadership assured us that they are in "lock-step" with us in this regard.

Lastly, the council expressed its support of the collaboration with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) at the ACC's Annual Scientific Sessions and is looking forward to assisting the College in developing excellent programming at ACC.16 next year. I would also like to recognize that Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC has been named Interventional Council Chair-Elect and will become the Chair of the council in March 2016. She brings a tremendous fund of knowledge and a unique energetic style to the council, and we couldn't have chosen a better leader for the future.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support of the Interventional Council and Section. This is your organization, and with your energy, enthusiasm, and dedication, we will continue to grow within the ACC. Please contact me through interventionalsection@acc.org if you are interested in participating in any of the activities listed above or if you have new ideas you would like us to pursue.

Keywords: Angiography, Adult, Anniversaries and Special Events, Aortic Valve Stenosis, Cardiology, Catheterization, Certification, Cooperative Behavior, Credentialing, Echocardiography, Female, Financial Management, Heart Diseases, Humans, Leadership, Medicine, Myocardial Infarction, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Personal Satisfaction, Physicians, Pulmonary Embolism, Registries, Specialization, Surgeons, United States, Volunteers

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