Gayle Davies

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at our annual meeting at the Ritz Carlton Lodge at Lake Oconee, November 20-22, 2026.

This award honors an adult or pediatric cardiologist or cardiovascular surgeon that has made significant contributions to medicine through patient care, medical education, research or community service as a member of the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, and whose lifetime of service deserves special recognition.

If you would like to nominate someone, please send your nomination directly to Arthur Reitman, MD, FACC, Chair, Awards Committee, arthur.reitman@wellstar.org.

Please explain the basis for your nomination and why you think the person is worthy of this coveted award. Our committee will then prioritize the nominees and present them to the Chapter’s Council for selection.

The deadline for receipt of nominations for the award is March 15.

Don’t forget to save the date for our annual meeting.

Past Award Recipients

2025 Henry Liberman, MD, FACC
2024 William A. Blincoe, MD, FACC
2023 Byron R. Williams, Jr., MD
2022 Robert M. Campbell, MD

2021 Robert A. Guyton, MD, FACC

2019 Robert Vincent MD; CM, FACC, MSCAI

2018 John Cantwell, MD

2017 Jere Lutz, MD

2016 Kenneth Dooley, MD

2015 Paul L. Douglass, MD

2014 Douglas Morris, MD
2013 Charles Wickliffe, MD
2012 Stan Sherman, MD

2011 Robert Franch, MD

2010 John S. Douglas, Jr., MD

2009 Nanette K. Wenger, MD

2008 Willis Williams, MD

2007 Stephen Clements, MD

2006 J. Willis Hurst, MD; Bruce Logue, MD

2005 Robert Ellison, MD

2004 C. Walker Beeson, MD

2003 William Plauth, Jr., MD

2002 Spencer King, III, MD

CMS has announced regions where qualifying specialists will be mandated to participate in the new Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) for heart failure. Cardiologists in these selected regions who annually treat 20 or more heart failure (HF) patients covered by traditional Medicare will be required to participate in ASM for HF.

The following geographic areas of Georgia were selected:  

12020	CBSA	GA	Athens-Clarke County, GA
12054	Metropolitan Division	GA	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
16860	CBSA	GA	Chattanooga, TN-GA
20060	CBSA	GA	Douglas, GA
23580	CBSA	GA	Gainesville, GA
42340	CBSA	GA	Savannah, GA
45700	CBSA	GA	Tifton, GA

ASM is a five-year specialty model designed to test whether episode-based accountability for chronic conditions can improve outcomes and reduce cost of care beginning on January 1, 2027.  Based on the MIPS program, ASM for HF is a two-sided risk model that will evaluate individual clinician performance based on specific quality and cost measures, improvement activities, and promoting interoperability. Evaluation of performance in ASM will positively or negatively impact the totality of participant’s Medicare Part B payments by as much as 9%.

CMS plans to release a preliminary list of participants in the coming weeks. ACC encourages our members to begin their education and preparation steps as soon as possible. For more details on AMS for HF, visit the ACC webpage for Ambulatory Specialty Model For Heart Failure – American College of Cardiology.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Here are your Santa photos from the
2025 GA ACC Conference

Click this link and add your email address for access

Update 8-19-25

Dear GA ACC Membership,

Approximately one week ago (July 29th), an invite to activate your Loop account was sent to your GA ACC registered email address. That email was specifically created for you, as it has a special authentication token attached to it. Please search your email (it may be in your junk folder) for “Loop Invite” and complete your account set up. There will be some exclusive content sent to through these channels in the near term. It is very important that the membership gain access to the app before some important additional initiatives are taken up.

To complete the onboarding process, please follow these steps:

Use the temporary password provided in the email to log in.
Create a new password as prompted.
Enter your mobile number, which will be securely linked to Loop’s servers to comply with HIPAA regulations.
Please interact with the content, as we are looking for important information to start with referral flow.
If you did not receive the email, please let us know. A common reason we are finding is that we have some incorrect information in our databases or your institution is blocking emails from Loop. If there are IT individuals in your organization that we can speak with to allow email domains to be whitelisted, please forward their contact information.

Please let us know if you have any questions and complete your onboarding process!

Best,

Amar Patel, MD
Loop Project Chair

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Dear Chapter Members,

Earlier today, many of you received an email from “Loop” regarding your account. As a reminder, Loop will serve as the official communication platform for the Georgia Chapter, offering a range of functionalities to enhance our operations.

You have been invited to join the Georgia Chapter section of Loop. To complete the onboarding process, please follow these steps:

• Use the temporary password provided in the email to log in.
• Create a new password as prompted.
• Enter your mobile number, which will be securely linked to Loop’s servers to comply with HIPAA regulations.

Please ensure you do not mark this email invitation as spam to avoid missing important updates.

The app already contains some pre-loaded content for your review, with additional materials to be added soon.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best,

Amar Patel, MD
Loop Project Chair

GA ACC President Pascha Schafer, MD, FACC and GA ACC Past President Jeff Marshall, MD, FACC, MSCAI sit down with ACC President Christopher M. Kramer, MD, FACC to discuss the importance of advocating for our profession.

ACC President Series | REMARKable Conversations – American College of Cardiology