Regulatory Relief Coalition Urges Congress to Advance Prior Authorization Legislation

The Regulatory Relief Coalition, a group of national physician specialty societies including the ACC, recently sent letters calling to advance prior authorization legislation to ranking members of the House Ways and Means Committee, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Senate Finance Committee.

The letters urge committee leadership to convene a hearing and mark-up of the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2021 (H.R. 3173/S. 3018), which would help protect Medicare beneficiaries from unnecessary delays in care by streamlining and standardizing prior authorization in the Medicare Advantage program. They also note that the legislation has support from more than 450 organizations, patients, health care providers, and the medical technology and pharmaceutical industries.

ACC Joins Medical Societies in Commitment to Eliminate Preventable Maternal Mortality

The ACC has joined the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and 17 other medical societies in a Commitment to Action aimed at eliminating preventable maternal mortality.

The multidisciplinary effort, which received support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will raise awareness about the risk of pregnancy-related emergencies in the 12-month postpartum period and highlight the role of all clinicians in recognizing and managing such emergencies. About 700 U.S. women die annually from pregnancy-related causes, with about one in three deaths occurring one week to one year postpartum. Cardiovascular conditions, such as cardiomyopathy, and hypertensive emergences, including preeclampsia, eclampsia and stroke, can be underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the 12 months following delivery.

Specifically, the goals of the initiative are to: 1) increase awareness of the critical role of nonobstetric health care professionals in reducing maternal mortality; 2) improve identification of patients who are pregnant or have been pregnant in the last 12 months in nonobstetric settings where these patients may present for care; and 3) enhance understanding among nonobstetric health care professionals to facilitate recognition of signs/symptoms of obstetric emergencies and readiness to stabilize or treat patients who present outside the obstetric setting. "Reducing maternal cardiovascular mortality is of critical importance to the increasingly complex population of childbearing women in this country," says Kathryn Lindley, MD, FACC, chair of the ACC Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee. "Addressing this problem will require multidisciplinary commitment to improve clinician and patient education, interdisciplinary patient care and policy change."

Becoming an ACC Advocate

Looking to get more involved in ACC Advocacy? Member support and participation is crucial to secure legislative victories at all levels of government that positively impact the profession and patients. Opportunities for action include:

Action Alerts
Action alerts are the quickest and easiest way to participate in advocacy efforts. Taking part in an action alert only takes a few minutes and is critically important in helping legislation to move forward. The College also offers text alerts to make it easier for members to take grassroots action on key issues! Text ACC to 50457 to start receiving alerts directly on your mobile device.

HeartPAC
HeartPAC is ACC's nonpartisan political action committee and helps to amplify the voice of cardiology on Capitol Hill. Through HeartPAC, ACC is able to support federal candidates up for election who have demonstrated leadership and an understanding of our policy priorities. ACC members who choose to contribute to HeartPAC enjoy a host of benefits including exclusive access to political updates and analysis, events and the HeartPAC lounge at the ACC Annual Scientific Session.

Legislative Conference
ACC's signature Legislative Conference is its biggest advocacy event of the year! Members from across the nation convene in Washington, DC, to hear from ACC staff, leaders and other experts on health policy issues and then head to Capitol Hill to meet with their lawmakers.

Legislator Practice Visits
The ACC's legislator practice visit program gives members the opportunity to host policymakers – at the federal or state level – at their cardiology practice to observe the health care delivery process and experience firsthand how federal legislation impacts the delivery of quality patient care.

Value-Based Care in Cardiology Forum
The Payer and Care Delivery Policy team organizes the annual Value-Based Care in Cardiology Forum, bringing together cardiovascular professionals, health plan executives and health system administrators to discuss best practices for delivering value-based cardiovascular care. The Forum is a great opportunity to dissect challenges related to value-based care and learn new strategies for implementing value-based care programs from fellow ACC colleagues.