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Amanda Jekowsky: ACC (202) 375-6645; ajekowsk@acc.org
Cathy Lewis: AHA (214) 706-1324; cathy.lewis@heart.org
May 1, 2008
The American College of Cardiology Foundation's
NCDR® and the American Heart Association’s GWTG
Join Forces to Fight Heart Attacks
ACC and AHA Create a Unified National Acute Coronary Syndromes
Registry to Measure and Improve Cardiovascular Patient Care
The American College of Cardiology Foundation’s National
Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR®) and the American
Heart Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG)-Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD) Registry announced today they are joining
together to create a national unified registry for measuring
and improving safety and outcomes for patients with acute
coronary syndromes (ACS). Acute coronary syndrome is an umbrella
diagnosis that encompasses both a type of heart attack known
as non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI)
and unstable angina, or chest pain.
This collaboration joins two leading national coronary artery
disease registries, NCDR’s ACTION Registry and GWTG-CAD
Registry, to create the largest and most comprehensive national
cardiovascular patient database ever developed by the medical
profession. This new registry, called ACTION Registry ®-GWTG
™, will establish the national standard for understanding
and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided
for patients with coronary artery disease.
While the ACC and the AHA have a history of collaboration
by establishing joint clinical guidelines for cardiovascular
care, the ACTION Registry®-GWTG™ is the first registry
partnership between the two groups. This unified partnership
brings the best of both programs to a single registry, ultimately
offering more benchmarking and quality improvement power to
hundreds and eventually thousands of hospitals across the
country providing care for patients with ACS.
"This merger has long been a dream of the cardiovascular
professional community and our nation's hospitals," says
Ralph Brindis, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer for the
ACC's NCDR. "A single, national ACS registry under the
guidance of the leading cardiovascular care organizations
will facilitate a leap forward in the improvement of the quality
and safety of care of patients with cardiovascular disease."
“This is a tremendous step for patient care that will
save lives,” said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., Chair of the
AHA GWTG Steering Committee. “The combination of these
two programs will greatly facilitate quality improvement efforts,
optimize clinical care and improve clinical outcomes for acute
coronary syndrome patients.”
The collaboration builds upon the collaborative models, tools
and techniques of the GWTG initiative, along with NCDR’s
history of credible, well-established registry experience,
data reporting, benchmarking and quality improvement initiatives
to provide new measurement and outcomes reporting for cardiovascular
providers. With the strengths of both existing programs, the
new ACTION Registry-GWTG will empower healthcare provider
teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according
to the most current, science-based guidelines.
The new ACTION Registry®-GWTG™ program will collect
a comprehensive set of data elements that provide hospitals
with information they need to monitor and improve adherence
to treatment guidelines and patient outcomes.
This merger applies only to the ACTION and GWTG-CAD registries.
The AHA will continue to fully administer the GWTG-Heart Failure
and Stroke programs and NCDR will continue to fully administer
and operate the CathPCI Registry, the ICD Registry, the CARE
Registry and the IC3 Program. The transition to ACTION Registry-GWTG
will be completed over the coming months. During that time,
both organizations will continue to support and encourage
ongoing hospital participation in their respective quality
improvement and patient database initiatives.
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The American College of Cardiology is leading the way to
optimal cardiovascular care and disease prevention. The College
is a 34,000-member nonprofit medical society and bestows the
credential Fellow of the American College of Cardiology upon
physicians who meet its stringent qualifications. The College
is a leader in the formulation of health policy, standards
and guidelines, and is a staunch supporter of cardiovascular
research. The ACC provides professional education and operates
national registries for the measurement and improvement of
quality care. More information about the association is available
online at www.acc.org .
Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association is the nation’s
oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated
to building healthier lives, free of heart disease and stroke.
These diseases, America’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers, and
all other cardiovascular diseases claim over 870,000 lives
a year. In fiscal year 2006–07, the association invested
more than $554 million in research, professional and public
education, advocacy and community service programs to help
all Americans live longer, healthier lives. To learn more,
call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit www.americanheart.org.
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