From the CEO: A Personal Note of Thanks

Thank you to the more than 500 attendees who helped to make this week's 2019 Legislative Conference our largest ever! I also want to thank ACC Health Affairs Committee Chair Thad Waites, MD, MACC, and ACC Political Action Committee Chair Sandy Lewis, MD, FACC, for their outstanding leadership in making this a highly successful and impactful conference. In addition, a big thank you to ACC Advocacy Division Vice President Nick Morse and his talented team for all their work in the planning and execution of the meeting.

Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death in the U.S. More of the nation's health care expenditures are attributable to cardiovascular disease than any other disease. ACC's more than 52,000 members manage millions of Americans with heart disease each year. As such, we "own" the clinical care of cardiovascular disease and we are committed to working with the federal government to advance solutions that enable us to deliver our care in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.

For the past 70 years, the ACC has spearheaded efforts to improve quality and access for cardiovascular disease patients. Now, we take on the next generation challenge: maintaining those achievements while also reducing the overall cost of cardiovascular disease care. This week we took our message to Congress and clearly announced we are ready for that challenge!

— Tim Attebery, DSc, MBA, FACHE, ACC and MedAxiom CEO