Effectively equipping clinicians, hospitals, health systems and other facilities and stakeholders with tools and best practices for designing, leading and ultimately achieving quality care is the focus of this year’s ACC Quality Summit in Los Angeles.

The Summit aims to provide attendees with NCDR registry-specific and hospital industry knowledge, plus a deeper understanding of the value of accreditation and ways patient data can drive process improvement initiatives. Over the course of the next three days, participants have opportunities to take part in hands-on education and workshops, network and share best practices with colleagues from across the U.S., and gain insights and inspiration from cardiovascular leaders and experts, including opening plenary and the Ralph G. Brindis Keynote speaker, Frederick Masoudi, MD, MSPH, MACC.

This year's ACC Quality Summit, chaired by David Winchester, MD, FACC, will focus on four key areas:

• The present and future directions of NCDR and ACC Accreditation Services
• Best practices in cardiovascular care
• Leadership roles in quality improvement
• How to measure success to improve patient outcomes

General sessions will address topics related to using NCDR data to understand inequities in care, rebuilding the cardiovascular team post-COVID, and how innovative technology can and will change the cardiovascular landscape. Meanwhile, registry, leadership and accreditation-focused tracks will look at issues like medication management in patients undergoing LAAO; choosing the best atrial fibrillation ablation strategy; building a successful structural heart program; improving cardiac rehabilitation referrals; and more.

Click the image below to read the ACC Quality Summit digital newspaper.

In addition to live sessions, a robust library of on-demand sessions will be available to both in-person and virtual attendees, allowing participants to learn more about global programs tied to NCDR and ACC Accreditation Services; best practices for promoting awareness of heart attack symptoms; shared decision-making; registry-specific case studies; and more. The NCDR’s 25th Anniversary will also be celebrated throughout the Quality Summit.

“We have much to celebrate,” says Ralph G. Brindis, MD, MPH, MACC. “The growth of the NCDR registry portfolio from the very first registry – the CathPCI Registry – in 1997 to our current eight registries has helped hospitals and other facilities around the world improve their patient outcomes and play a central role in transforming cardiovascular care through use of robust risk adjustment, hospital and physical benchmarking, and important feedback.”

Brindis highlights how the NCDR has also made great strides in working across specialties and agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and more to advance solutions to high-quality care during its history. Looking ahead to the next 25 years, he says there’s a real opportunity to leverage the timely data, expertise and real-world insights to foster and grow a true local, national and international learning health care environment.

“The Quality Summit is the perfect place to kick off this next chapter,” he says.