This post is authored by John S. Rumsfeld, MD, PhD, FACC, chief science officer of the NCDR.

The NCDR’s annual conference (NCDR.13) started today and is already off to a great start. Over 950 registry professionals, cardiovascular physicians and administrators are in attendance, and the meeting opened with a great keynote presentation about excellence in cardiovascular care and the role of the NCDR given by Martha Radford, MD, FACC, director of clinical quality and safety at NYU Hospital Center.

In response to physician and health care administrator’s growing interest in the NCDR, we've added a MD/Administrator track to NCDR.13, which includes a series of workshops specifically designed for their needs. Health care in the U.S. is changing dramatically and cardiovascular professionals face a future that will include more public reporting of quality measures, increased needs to demonstrate performance improvement, and an increased focus on outcomes. The NCDR can directly help physicians and administrators with these, so this is a major focus for the NCDR programs going forward, starting with the NCDR.13 meeting.

Meanwhile, NCDR research will be featured throughout ACC.13. Twenty-two abstracts, including oral and poster presentations will feature NCDR research. Several of the topics discussed at the NCDR.13 will be further fleshed out in educational sessions as well, including sessions focused on the use of registry data for MOC purposes, international registry lessons learned, TAVR research and more.

Congratulation to Jonathan Hsu, MD author of the poster “Inappropriate Oral Anticoagulant Use in Atrial Fibrillation Patients with a Low Risk of Thromboembolism: Insights from the NCDR® PINNACLE Program,” which is being recognized as a Best of Poster and Best FIT Poster at ACC.13. The poster will be on display Monday, March 11th from 9:45-10:30 a.m. in Poster Sessions, Expo North.

For the complete guide to NCDR abstracts at ACC.13, visit NCDR.com/ACC13 or stop by ACC Central during Expo hours.