ACC Georgia Chapter

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2016 Annual Meeting Sets New Standard for Excellence

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The Ritz Carlton at Lake Oconee was filled to capacity for our Chapter’s Annual Meeting, held November 18-20. Over 400 people, including 140 cardiologists and 52 exhibitors, packed into the beautiful resort on yet another spectacular weekend. For the past few years, our chapter has contracted the entire facility for our meeting yet still faced challenges finding room and meeting space for everyone that wanted to attend.

Following are a few of the highlights of the weekend:

  • Over 40 of the specialty’s scientific leaders addressed cutting edge topics, beginning Friday at 2pm and ending Sunday at noon.
  • ACC President Dr. Rick Chazal and Chapter President Dr. Charlie Brown presented updates on the issues facing the specialty.
  • Dr. Ken Dooley was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Dr. Donald Page was recognized for three years distinguished service as Chapter President and ACC Governor.
  • Dr. Jason Reingold was presented the President’s Award for exemplary service as the Chapter’s representative on the Carrier Advisory Committee (CAC).
  • Dr. Salim Hayek, Emory, won the top award among eight FIT poster presentations.
  • For the third year, an outstanding track of CV surgery sessions was featured with rooms filled to capacity.
  • The Joe Gransden Orchestra presented a powerful celebration of Frank Sinatra’s centennial birthday on Saturday night.
  • Special thanks to our premier sponsors, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Abbot Vascular, to Silver Sponsor Zoll Pharmaceutical and Bronze sponsors Arbor Pharmaceuticals and Piedmont Healthcare.

View slideshow of the weekend here

 

Join and Contribute to ACCPAC

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Message from the ACC President:

Dear Georgia ACC Members,

Charles Brown, III, M.D., FACC
Charles Brown, III,
M.D., FACC

Amid the noise and disruption of this extraordinarily bizarre Presidential election, there lurks in the background the implementation of MACRA. Our patients and our profession need your help and your involvement.

For over a decade, the ACC and our political action committee, ACCPAC, were instrumental in successfully advocating for repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR), the flawed formula by which clinicians were paid by Medicare.

Our need for action has not ended with the repeal of the SGR. Its replacement, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), begins to take effect in January, 2017 and will overhaul how we practice and how we are paid. It is imperative that we work closely with Congress to exercise strong oversight as this extremely complex new law is implemented.

While ACC supports MACRA in principal, the devil is in the details, and the details are in flux.

In order to have our voice heard by those congressional leaders who have oversight of this law, we need strong grassroots support powered by contributions to ACCPAC.

Without a strong voice and a well-funded ACCPAC, we surrender control of our patient care, our quality matrices, and our profession to those who do not have our best interests and those of our patients in mind.

What does this mean?

Your contributions in the past have helped Georgia’s cardiovascular voice be heard and advanced the effectiveness of ACC’s advocacy efforts. This year, our state is at the low end of contributors to ACCPAC – and we cannot afford to fall behind.

Help ensure that ACC has the resources to shape our future effectively.

Please click here to join us and contribute to ACCPAC.

Thank you,

Charles Brown, III, MD, FACC
President/Governor

2016 Georgia Chapter ACC Legislative Conference

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To: Members, Georgia Chapter of the ACC

Last week fourteen of your fellow members spent three days in Washington advocating on behalf of you and your patients. We met with members of our congressional delegation as well as members of their office staff in both Senate offices.

Photos of our delegation at work.

Our message on your behalf was:

  • Congress must exercise very careful oversight of the MACRA implementation. Congress and CMS should work with medical societies to ensure that the implementation is not administratively burdensome and does not interfere with the delivery of high-quality cardiovascular care.
  • We enlisted support of HR 3355/ SB 488 , which will allow supervision of cardiac rehabilitation services by mid-level providers. This will open up the opportunity for particularly smaller rural areas to operate and maintain cardiac rehabilitation services for their cardiovascular patients and expand the scope of practice for our team of cardiovascular care Associates.

As we all experience the evolution of our health care delivery system, the role of governmental regulation becomes increasingly more critical. Is this process, this regulation that will have a profound effect on how you’re able to care for your patients and what type of office will be delivering that care. It is paramount that you understand your role in actively attempting to influence the changes and stay connected to ACC and your Georgia Chapter.

Your membership in ACC helps as the ACC is seen extremely favorably on Capitol Hill as the one specially society that has focused so much on data-driven decision-making. However, your contribution to the ACCPAC allows us to have ongoing one-on-one discussions with our legislators who can and will influence these regulations on our behalf.

If any of you have any questions about our ongoing activities, please feel free to call me or Jerry Lutz, who is our PAC representative to the ACC. Hope to see many of you in November at our annual chapter meeting.

Joe Wilson, MD, FACC

Chair, GA/ACC Advocacy Committee