There were some exciting late-breaking clinical trials presented here today and yesterday, and ACC leaders were widely quoted in the media on the implications of what was discussed. 

I took a little time out yesterday from the international scene to hold a panel with the American Heart Association to examine AHA and ACC’s vision for the future of U.S. health care. The panel featured me, Fred Bove, Clyde Yancy and Robert Califf.  Part of the purpose was to help cardiologists and CV professionals understand better the differences and areas of collaboration between AHA and ACC. We focused on the positives, which are numerous, rather than on areas on competition. As I’ve said before, the future of health care should be rewarding for continuous outcome improvement and providing patient-centered care.

The ACC has a health care reform campaign, called Quality First, which, like the name suggests, advocates for payment incentives for quality care, along with increasing the focus on patient value (which we define as transparent, high quality, cost-effective, continuous care), better coordination across sources and site of care and emphasizing professionalism to increase partnerships with patients. Reform would also provide universal coverage through an expansion of public and private programs. (You can read more about Quality First and specific examples of how to make it a reality in ACC’s “Blueprint for Reform.”)

Of course, making sure all of this is included in health care reform is quite a tall order, which is why the ACC is working with lawmakers and the White House to make sure that they know what we feel is best and how best to achieve it. We’ll know soon enough if we’ve left an impact.