Contact: Rachel Cagan, rcagan@acc.org, 202-375-6395

WASHINGTON (Oct 02, 2015) -

The American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons today released a new statement on the future of clinical registries titled ACC/AHA/STS Statement on the Future of Registries and the Performance Measurement Enterprise.

Clinical registries are observational databases focused on clinical conditions, procedures, therapies or populations. The goal of registries is to capture data that reflect real world clinical practice in patient populations.

“Registries are fundamental to health care quality and improvement,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., FACC, FAHA executive director of intervention cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chair of the writing committee. “Registries can support the development, implementation, and evaluation of performance measures as tools for improving patient care and communicating meaningful information to patients regarding quality.”

The statement examines the current state of clinical registries while acknowledging their future growth potential.  The authors write that while there has been an “explosion” in the number of clinical registries over the past decade, there are still broad clinical areas and specific procedures that would benefit from the creation of a dedicated registry.

“The future will likely involve some degree of integration of electronic health records and administrative data sources with registry data,” Bhatt said.

The document will publish online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes and The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

About the American College of Cardiology

The American College of Cardiology is a 49,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more information, visit acc.org.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke - America's No. 1 and No. 4 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Founded in 1964, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a not-for-profit organization representing more than 7,100 cardiothoracic surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest. The Society’s mission is to enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality patient care through education, research, and advocacy.

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