The NCDR.16 Annual Conference held in Chicago, IL, exceeded expectations and took those who attended to new levels. Over 1,400 registry professionals, quality experts, cardiovascular administrators and physicians from across the country attended this year's meeting, setting a new record.

Here's a snapshot of members who attended NCDR.16:

CV Team	341
AACC	36
FACC	31
CV Administrator	96
Total	504

Early attendees were able to take advantage of three pre-conference offerings: 1) NCDR Orientation, 2) LAAO Registry orientation, which captures data on the left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) procedure, and 3) AFib Ablation Registry orientation, which captures data on the management and outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AFib) treatments.

The opening session included commentary from ACC President Richard A. Chazal, MD, FACC, who welcomed the attendees and the ACC Board of Trustees who joined via video conferencing. Chazal also announced the establishment of an annual endowment from Ralph G. Brindis, MD, MPH, MACC, to support the selection of a national leader for the NCDR Keynote Speaker. For the first year, the award went to Thomas H. Lee, MD, chief medical officer from Press Ganey. His inspirational lecture discussed the need to measure and improve the patient experience, and how essential this need is for organizations in today's competitive health care environment.

Another general session, "NCDR Public Reporting Effort: The Good, The Bad, and the Why" was given by David Lansky, PhD, the president and chief executive officer of Pacific Business Group on Health, and Gregory J. Dehmer, MD, MACC, a longtime leader and advocate for the NCDR.

A wide-range of breakout sessions provided attendees the opportunity to customize their specific registry-related education to optimize their individual goals. Workshops covered topics such as conducting quality improvement with NCDR data, engaging physicians and administrators, techniques in optimizing data quality, and the role of registry stakeholders in NCDR data – perspectives from payers, states and health systems.

The conference wrapped up with a hilarious and informative session of "Hardball," not with Chris Mathews but rather with John S. Rumsfeld, MD, PhD, FACC, and Fredrick A. Masoudi, MD, MSPH, FACC, and moderated by Richard J. Kovacs, MD, FACC. There are few words that can adequately describe this unique presentation, but together they highlighted the hot topics of the conference and all the attendees left the conference smiling.

NCDR.16 Poster Winners

Many records were broken at this year's meeting, including 49 abstract poster submissions which were exhibited during the meeting. The posters provided attendees with information on how hospitals use real-world tools and techniques for applying registry data for quality improvement. The poster authors with the best 'take away' practices were awarded trophies to take home to their facilities:

• 1st Place: Allison Fike, CCNS, from Parker Adventist Hospital; Parker, Colorado. Poster title: Reducing Excessive Initial Heparin Dosing in NSTE-ACS Patients: A Multidisciplinary Approach.
• 2nd Place: Tiffany Hart, BSN, from Baylor Denton Emergency Department; The Heart Hospital, Denton, Texas. Poster title: STEMI Feedback in 30 Seconds or Less.
• 3rd Place: Charles Henry Thomas, BS, from the University of Washington Medicine; Seattle Washington. Poster title: A Novel and Highly Effective Real-Time Data Analytics Approach for Continuous Quality Improvement in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

The People's Choice Award gave the attendees a chance to evaluate and choose their favorite poster based on content, relevance, significance, appearance and presentation. This year, the People's Choice Award went to Brenda Springer, RN, from Parkerview Health System in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her poster was entitled, "The Cath Lab Structured Report: Tool for Comprehensive Physician Documentation."

The NCDR.16 team wants to thank everyone who submitted posters this year. We realize the time, energy and coordination needed to create a poster is significant. However, the posters add another dimension of quality to the annual conference. We look forward to breaking this record next year!

NCDR.17

Please consider attending NCDR.17 to be held on March 13 –15, 2017 in Washington, DC. Also consider submitting your NCDR project as an abstract for a chance to receive a complimentary registration to the annual conference.

For more information, visit CVQuality.ACC.org.

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This article was authored by Andrea Price, MS, RCIS, CCA, executive program director of cardiovascular specialty registries and process improvement at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.