Recently, ACC President Patrick T. O'Gara, MD, FACC, shared his perspective on how personalized medicine will impact the practice of cardiology in the future during a House Energy and Commerce Committee roundtable. This meeting provided an opportunity for key players in health care to have an open discussion about the advancements in and barriers to personalized medicine and its role in improving patient care. O'Gara underscored that shared decision making between clinicians and patients is essential to the successful development and application of personalized medicine. "This is an extraordinarily important and very exciting inflection point, but we cannot forget the educational piece and the shared decision making that has to be part and parcel of how we're going to get this out," he stressed. Furthermore, O'Gara called for harmonization across regulatory agencies; funding for information and science; and proper reimbursement for diagnostic tests and counseling of patients. Read more onCardioSource.org. This meeting is one of two the College has been invited to take part in this month. On July 31, health care experts will speak to the House Small Business Committee on the benefits and barriers to increased use of telemedicine. Stay tuned to the Advocate and ACC.org for full coverage. Additionally, ACC's SMARTCare pilot project was mentioned for its potential to reduce health care costs during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on chronic illness that took place last week.

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