ACC/AHA Statement Details Work to Optimize Guidelines

A new multisocietal statement details the ACC and American Heart Association (AHA's) work over the last several years to optimize clinical practice guidelines, and outlines the continued work and vision for guideline optimization. The statement was published Oct. 10 in JACC.

In the statement, Catherine M. Otto, MD, FACC; Mariell Jessup, MD, FACC; Richard J. Kovacs, MD, MACC; and Joshua A. Beckman, MD, MS, FACC, discuss how the Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines is improving the process to both enhance the timeliness of the guidelines and maintain trustworthy, comprehensive recommendations at a rate that matches current scientific advancement.

"The work of guideline optimization has permitted a reevaluation of document development and creation while reinforcing our 4-decade goals of trustworthiness, transparency, accessibility, and timeliness," the authors write. "As we consolidate this work and plan for the next set of improvements, the future of guidelines evolves to meet the challenges of cardiovascular care to come."

They explain that to improve timeliness, the Joint Committee has developed a common document format without the need of an executive summary and created a series of milestones and clear expectations for the writing committee. They have also created a review committee to work alongside the guideline writing committee, streamlining the process while still providing the needed oversight. An evidence surveillance committee will also continuously monitor new science and review literature that could potentially affect a guideline.

Other optimizations include efforts to improve accessibility and broaden participation in the writing and guidelines maintenance processes by developing training programs for potential committee members within the larger cardiovascular community. The new modular recommendation format is also making it easier to update singular recommendations within a larger guideline document.

"The forward vision and support of the AHA and ACC, the prodigious work of the Joint Committee, and the interest and investment in process improvement of our writing and review committees makes us confident that our guidelines will adapt to fresh data and opportunities to improve patient care," Otto et al., write. "Indeed, we will work to ensure that guidelines will continue to support clinicians who seek to provide the best care for their patients with cardiovascular disease."

To date the ACC and AHA have released three new guidelines in 2024 focused on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, lower extremity peripheral artery disease and perioperative cardiovascular management for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, respectively. Visit ACC.org/Guidelines for links to all published guidelines in JACC and to dedicated guideline hubs containing specific resources and tools for clinicians and patients.

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Keywords: American Heart Association, Guideline, Guidelines as Topic