Today marks the start of "Take Action for Access" week, and we've got activities lined up for each day this week to fight the cuts. Today's action: Arm yourself (and your staff!) with knowledge. Watch www.campaignforpatientaccess.org for more ways to get involved this week.

My sincere thanks to every member and friend who has been part of this effort so far. We've heard from several members of Congress this week about in-depth conversations they've had with cardiologists in their states about the impacts of the cuts on local communities and patient services. Independent cardiologists in central Florida published an open letter to Mr. Obama in an Ocala newspaper in November, telling the president that CMS’ cuts will permanently cripple private practice of cardiology in Florida and leave Florida’s massive population of Medicare beneficiaries (80 percent of patients) without care. We’ve used this effective letter as the basis for an ad that ran today in RollCall and will run tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday in CongressDaily and The Hill. Every member of Congress and their staffs will see it for certain. 

Reflections on Quality
Meanwhile, health care pundits have paid heed to the great work cardiology has done to curb expenses and increase quality. Robert Kelley, vice president for health care analytics at Thomson Reuters, was quoted in BusinessWeek recently, pointing out that ACC's appropriate use criteria aim to prevent unnecessary and costly treatments. The article says, “Given that about one in six U.S. health-care dollars is currently spent on cardiovascular procedures, ‘that's a big step forward,’ says Kelly.” 

ACC’s Immediate-past Governor in Washington, John Olsen, FACC, also published an op-ed in the Seattle Times, defending American medicine in general. Olsen warns against believing everything you hear about the low quality of American health care. While he admits there’s room to improve quality, he says, “Our medicine is not static. But amid all the turbulence, let us pause and give thanks for the bedrock of American medicine that is the envy of all the world.” He makes a good point. As the nation moves forward -- appropriately -- to pursue health reform, the ACC and the profession needs to make sure we don’t undermine the things that are excellent about medical care in this country as we fix those aspects of what we have that need to change. While we need change in this country to increase access, improve quality and coordination of care, and promote economic sustainability for our health care non-system, let’s build that better future on a foundation of what works well here now. 

Up Next!
In other news, don't miss the all-member call tomorrow at noon on consultations and other coding changes. The call will discuss the new codes for nuclear cardiology SPECT-MPI, CCT, and Cardiac MR, as well as changes for provider consultations. Click here to register. The ACC will hold another call on Dec. 14 to further understand the upcoming CPT changes for 2010 and discuss these issues with health plans. Registration for that call is available by submitting this form.

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