Quality - Bringing Down Barriers

Bringing Down Barriers

Everyone supports quality patient care. But the reality is that the current environment rarely provides incentives to quality healthcare and may even discourage it. Regulatory requirements, while often a well intentioned attempt to improve quality, may distract from quality of care when not in accordance with true quality improvement practices. And currently there are few mechanisms to recognize and reward providers and institutions that deliver treatment aligned with best practices. These barriers to quality have created widespread frustration throughout all sectors of the healthcare industry and growing anxiety about our nation's healthcare system. The good news is it has created enthusiasm for and receptivity to innovative solutions to the problem.

ACC believes that our members, as professionals, need to play a central role in defining and improving quality, and we are working vigorously to assure that efforts to define cardiovascular quality are led by ACC. We are working with payers, regulatory agencies and state and federal agencies to develop innovative programs that create incentives for quality and include evidence-based strategies for improvement of care for patients.

Cardiologists, now more than ever, have an opportunity and a responsibility to take back control of quality improvement. The ACCF has initiated a Quality Champions Program designed to create a climate of professional responsibility for quality, the leadership and knowledge necessary to assume that responsibility, and the ability to communicate a sense of urgency for quality to colleagues. These Quality Champions will help us to understand how to best support efforts to raise awareness among peers, to develop the tools and programs to assist in those efforts, and to create a network of individuals who can learn from and teach one another.

American College of Cardiology

Helping Cardiovascular Professionals Learn. Advance. Heal.