ACT
NOW: Help Influence Payment Reform With
the House and Senate beginning to unveil overarching health
care reform legislation, now is the time for lawmakers to
hear first-hand from YOU about how the current system has
affected your ability to run a practice and provide your patients
access to the care they need and deserve. Using ACC's
toll-free grassroots hotline (800-210-7193) or grassroots
email system, contact your members of Congress and ask
them to permanently repeal the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate
(SGR) formula and work with the physician community to transition
to a new system that provides stable, positive updates and
covers increasing costs of care. Now is the time to also use
any connections you may have with lawmakers and/or their staff.
For the latest information on health reform, including the
ACC's comments on the Senate Finance Committee's delivery
system and financing of reform proposals, visit http://qualityfirst.acc.org.
You can also share your thoughts on the proposals and what
you think reform should look like at the ACC’s “Lewin
Report” blog. Now is also the time to take advantage
of the opportunities provided by the ACC’s
Political Action Committee. You can also follow ACC grassroots
on Twitter (@Cardiology).
Contact Molly Nicholson at mnichels@acc.org
with any questions.
Busy
Week for Comparative Effectiveness The
Brookings Institution on Tuesday convened a panel of experts
to discuss key questions surrounding comparative effectiveness
research (CER). The panel included Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT),
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag,
and Sean Tunis of the Center for Medical Technology Policy.
The panel addressed how research questions should be prioritized;
what methods and data infrastructure are needed for CER; and
how CER findings can be used to improve clinical and health
policy decisions. Both Dr. Tunis and Dr. Orszag highlighted
the potential of CER to help develop a more robust set of
evidence upon which to make decisions. Dr. Tunis advocated
that decision-makers be a part of developing CER methods.
Three issue papers were released at the event and can be accessed
at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/2009/0609_health_care_cer/0609_health_care_cer.pdf.
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Meanwhile,
ACC Senior Vice President for Advocacy Jim Fasules, M.D.,
F.A.C.C., testified on Wednesday at a Federal Coordinating
Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research Listening Session.
Fasules said that “comparative effectiveness research
aligned with cost effectiveness information has the potential
to make it much easier for patients and their doctors to choose
the best treatment and avoid unnecessary treatment for not
only heart disease, but other diseases, thus improving quality
and ensuring greater patient value. A crucial next step for
making sure comparative effectiveness research fulfills its
potential to improve care will be integrating the results
of that research into guidelines and tools for clinical care.”
The complete testimony will be posted on http://qualityfirst.acc.org.
QUALITY
June
Issue of Cardiology Focuses on Newest Appropriate Use Criteria
The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), along
with key specialty and subspecialty societies, has released
updated appropriate use criteria for cardiac radionuclide
imaging (RNI). The updated Appropriate Use Criteria for RNI
represents the first attempt to update an existing AUC document
to reflect changes in test utilization and new clinical data.
Read more about the new SPECT RNI criteria in this month’s
Cardiology magazine.
For more information on appropriate use criteria and tools
to help you apply the criteria in practice go to: www.acc.org/auc.
ACC
EHR Toolkit Helps Practices Navigate Health IT Requirements By
2011 the Federal government will start paying bonuses to those
practices that have adopted and are “meaningfully using”
electronic health records (EHRs). As of 2015, practices could
be penalized for not making the switch. Choosing the right
electronic health record (EHR) depends on a variety of factors,
including practice goals, office size, technological capabilities,
expertise and cost, among others. With so many office-dependent
issues to take into consideration, it is no wonder that the
process can appear to be daunting. To that end, the ACC has
put together helpful hints for selecting and implementing
an EHR, as well as compiled a list of outside resources and
selection tools. For the complete EHR toolkit, go to www.acc.org/healthit.
HHS
Releases New Report on Health Disparities Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this
week released a new report on health disparities in the U.S.
The report, “Health Disparities: A Case for Closing
the Gap,” highlights some of larger disparities in the
current health care system and shows that minorities and lower-income
Americans are more likely to be sick and less likely to get
the care they need. To view the report, go to: www.HealthReform.gov.
