Developing a comprehensive health system strategy that best leverages ACC’s NCDR clinical data registries, accreditation services, and quality campaigns is a major strategic priority for the College.

“Registry data drive improvement by measuring performance and identifying gaps in treatment and patient outcomes, while accreditation drives improvement by providing evidence-based and nationally accepted standards for hospitals,” said Kathleen Hewitt, RN, AACC. “Quality campaigns target quality improvement efforts in areas where data show gaps in evidence-based care.”

ACC’s NCDR registries have a 20-year history of providing data-driven quality improvement. To date, eight hospital-based registries and two outpatient registries fall under the NCDR umbrella. The two newest registries include the LAAO and AFib Ablation registries. The College’s quality campaigns, including the Door-to-Balloon Alliance, Hospital to Home, Surviving MI and Patient Navigator Program, have also contributed to changing hospital cultures and saving lives over the last decade.

"Quality campaigns target quality improvement efforts in areas where data show gaps in evidence-based care." — Kathleen Hewitt, RN, AACC

ACC Accreditation Services, formerly the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, is the latest in the College’s efforts to provide hospitals with access to streamlined quality improvement programs and tools.

“ACC Accreditation Services is grounded in the science of process improvement – an ongoing effort to identify and implement strategies that improve and streamline clinical care processes. In practice this works to accelerate the pace at which a facility can tap into proven, evidence-based protocols,” said Abraham Joseph, vice president of ACC Accreditation Services. “Accreditation programs help hospitals recognize gaps in care and track progress towards improved patient outcomes.”

The ACC began offering accreditation services early last year and released its newest Cardiac Cath Lab accreditation program last spring. Most recently, the College in January launched a new collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA) to provide hospitals with a comprehensive suite of co-branded accreditation services focused on all aspects of cardiac care, including chest pain, cardiac catheterization, atrial fibrillation, heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions. Additionally, AHA’s new Accreditation for Cardiovascular Center of Excellence program builds upon these disease-specific offerings to provide hospitals with extensive resources to help guide, assess and improve overall cardiovascular care systems.

Learn more at CVQuality.ACC.org.

Keywords: ACC Publications, ACC Scientific Session Newspaper, ACC Annual Scientific Session, Accreditation, American Heart Association, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Catheterization, Chest Pain, Heart Failure, Hospitals, Outpatients, Patient Care, Patient Navigation, Quality Improvement, Registries