With not enough clinicians available to meet the needs of an ever-increasing patient population, the cardiology profession is on the brink of a workforce crisis. This topic, and others tied to the business of medicine such as clinician reimbursement, value-based care and system sustainability, are part of a four-session Intensive taking place today and tomorrow during ACC.24.

"The challenges underlying the clinical workforce crisis in cardiology are numerous and at times seem overwhelming," says ACC Past President Edward T.A. Fry, MD, MACC, who is a presenter in the Business of Cardiology Intensive Session II today. "We must attack all the contributing factors now realizing that some are more likely to have short-term solutions and others long-term. Even if we are not 'boiling the ocean,' we need to at least turn on the burner."

Last year, a task force appointed by the ACC Board of Trustees and chaired by Thomas M. Maddox, MD, MSc, FACC, found that long training and certification pathways, hyper-specialization, unfavorable work-life balance, and an insufficient supply of physicians, APPs, nurses and allied health professionals, are the four primary stressors impacting the workforce supply.

The task force proposed a series of recommendations to address these challenges that included advocating for changes in training and certification pathways, incentivizing careers in general cardiology, promoting team-based care, creating new models and tools that optimize workflow, driving payment reform and incentives alignment, and partnering with other societies and stakeholders to better manage cardiovascular disease and ensure equitable access to health care.

On the training and certification front, new technologies and digital platforms have helped to lower geographic and cost barriers and opened the doors to innovate and more effectively and efficiently deliver cardiovascular education across the care team.

"As we think about the needs of the cardiovascular workforce, leaning in to evidence-based education is important," says Julie B. Damp, MD, FACC, incoming vice chair of the ACC Annual Scientific Session. "Defining competency and understanding meaningful assessment in cardiovascular education helps us identify the skills needed for clinicians of all types and hone our ability to effectively assess achievement of these skills, allowing education to be tailored to the needs of the workforce."

In addition to training and competency-based education, promoting team-based care and leveraging the entire cardiovascular team to the fullest extent possible must play a critical role in solving workforce issues and informing the design of new care models.

"The workforce crisis highlights the need to engage, empower and support the CV Team," says ACC.24 CV Team Lead Kim Guibone, APRN, DNP, FACC." For example, expanded use of APPs can improve access to care along the continuum and help close gaps in care, especially when paired with use of digital technologies like telehealth and remote monitoring."

MedAxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, FACC, agrees, noting that "there is almost universal recognition in organizations of any size/complexity and with any ownership model that team-based care is required to meet the needs of patients and society." Blackwell will give the Louis F. Bishop Keynote on the Future of Cardiology during Session IV of the Intensive tomorrow.

Strengthening and expanding the trainee pipeline and incentivizing careers in cardiology, especially among those currently underrepresented in cardiovascular medicine, is another important piece of the workforce puzzle.

Efforts like the College's Young Scholars Program, Internal Medicine Program and the Clinical Trials Research Program are already starting to demonstrate success in helping to grow and expand the pipeline of cardiovascular clinicians to better reflect the diverse patient populations needing care, while ACC's Member Sections are also helping clinicians find their niche in the College as early as medical school and grow their professional knowledge throughout the course of their career.

Additionally, Sections are important catalysts in the College's efforts to advocate for and implement educational programming, leadership training, mentoring and other initiatives aimed at creating a diverse and inclusive profession. Attendees at ACC.24 can stop by ACC Central or the Lounge & Learn Pavilion to join a Section for free.

"Ensuring everyone has the right to achieve their best health outcomes is everyone's responsibility – a responsibility the ACC takes very seriously," says Paul L. Douglass, MD, MACC, chair of ACC's Health Equity Committee. "The ACC is committed to ensuring the development of a cardiovascular workforce that reflects the community that we are devoted to serving."

Keywords: ACC Publications, ACC Scientific Session Newspaper, ACC24