Over its nearly 70-year history, the College has grown from a small cardiology association focused primarily on education of physicians, to the much larger professional home for cardiovascular clinicians around the world that it is today. As a result of this growth, the ACC has worked hard over the last several years to transform its governance structure and processes, as well as its strategic planning processes, are able to more nimbly and effectively meet the needs of the College and its increasingly diverse members.

As the College is in the final years of its 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, efforts to develop the next Strategic Plan that will guide the ACC from 2019-2023 are well underway. These efforts have included a re-examination of the ACC mission and vision statements to ensure they align with where the College is headed as it looks to the future.

A strong mission and vision should complement each other and clearly articulate why the College exists and what it hopes to achieve. Over the summer, working groups comprised of ACC’s Board of Trustees (BOT) members, staff, and external experts representing over 54 organizations, including 28 health systems, 16 universities and 10 companies like IBM and Google, met to answer key strategic questions and envision the future of the College in the context of the current health care environment and where the ACC expects to be going forward.

“The visioning exercises were unique and unlike any strategic planning visioning process the College has experienced to date,” said ACC President Mary Norine Walsh, MD, FACC. “The College welcomed the willingness of both members and outside experts who dedicated time and energy to help shape the College’s future. This is truly a reflection of the reputation of the College as a leader in transforming cardiovascular care.”

The working groups identified many common themes and developed narratives that painted a vision of the future.  Among the areas of focus for the future are: (1) knowledge management which allows for information to be easily consumed, shared, discovered, integrated and kept updated; (2) integration of relevant data as sources proliferate; (3) technology as an enabler to reduce the burden of care delivery, payment models, education and knowledge management; (4) optimization and support of team based-based care as the primary driver of improved clinician wellbeing (i.e., “quadruple aim”); (5) increased diversity of the cardiovascular workforce that leads to improved outcomes for diverse patient populations; (6) ACC as a trusted partner and source for defining standards and best practices for cardiovascular care; and (7) personalization of care through the integration of genomics, individualized risk assessments, patient preferences and shared decision-making.

Many of the thematic areas focused on leveraging expected advances and innovations in technology and the integration of data and knowledge. Ultimately, these collaborative exercises led to the development of ACC’s new vision: A world where innovation and knowledge optimize cardiovascular care and outcomes.

During its recent meeting in August, the BOT reaffirmed the College’s mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health, while creating and approving the new vision statement.

“This new vision will serve as the guidepost for all the College’s efforts going forward,” said Walsh. “Even more importantly, it will help ACC leaders, members and staff as they continue to develop and finalize the next strategic plan and update the College’s core values and strategic goals.”

The ACC will continue to keep its members apprised of the College’s Strategic Plan development process, as the College moves forward in setting the Strategic Direction by defining Strategic Goals, Performance Measures and Core Values.  

Keywords: Leadership

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