Presenting and learning from real-world accountable care cardiovascular arrangements was the focus of ACC’s sixth annual Value-Based Care in Cardiology Forum, held Dec. 5 in Washington, DC.

The Forum, designed to foster open discussions on experiences with current value and payment models, brought together clinicians, payers, health systems and other key stakeholders to consider both successes and challenges in integrating specialists into value-based care models as well as differing perspectives on “high-value” cardiovascular care.

“Working collaboratively and engaging with clinicians, payers, health systems and other stakeholders is a fundamental component of the College’s advocacy efforts as we continue our efforts to transition to care models that are mutually beneficial and of high value and that, importantly, improve patient outcomes,” said ACC President Cathleen Biga, MSN, FACC, in her opening remarks.

Chaired by Paul N. Casale, MD, MPH, MACC, the Forum’s main objectives were to outline the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s (CMMI’s) strategic vision for specialty integration, identify examples of health systems that are integrating specialty care within total cost of care models, and discuss both challenges and opportunities for engaging cardiologists and primary care accountable care organizations through data sharing, risk sharing, and shared accountability for outcomes.

Jenny Zhang, MD, senior advisor of Patient Care Models Group for CMMI, delivered a keynote address highlighting the overarching goals of CMMI in working on specialty care strategy including sharing data, maintaining episode momentum, driving better primary and specialty care integration, and thinking beyond the short-term future. Zhang considered questions from Forum participants on data transparency, key learnings from value-based care models in the primary care space and engaging new practices through mandatory models.

Panelists from Blue Shield of California, Cardiovascular Associates of America, Geisinger, High Performing Network of Oregon and Kaiser Permanente continued the conversation, pointing out the importance of training and sufficient onboarding to foster a value-based care culture based on ACC and American Heart Association guidelines.

They also shared success in the use of e-consultations as a tool for cardiovascular assessment and recommendations. Additional topics discussed included the “race to the bottom” component of current shared savings models, the importance of patient buy-in concerning the clinical decision-making process and desired outcomes behind their care, the need for payer incentives for updating practice infrastructure, and more.

The Forum concluded with presentations from Kenneth Cohen, MD, executive director of translational research for Optum Care and Jerome E. Williams Jr., MD, FACC, chief physician executive for SCA Health/Optum Specialty Practices, describing real-world examples on how value-based care compensation models can create cardiology incentive pools from value-based contracts based on their performance in managing conditions like coronary artery disease and heart failure.

View live coverage from the Forum on social media at @Cardiology on X, and use the hashtag #ValueBasedCare to share your perspective.

Keywords: ACC Advocacy, Accountable Care Organizations, Cardiology, Health Policy