Moderator: David Harris, MD, FACC, FASE, FSCMR

We would like to thank our meeting sponsors at the time of printing: Amryt Pharma (Silver), Cincinnati Children's (Silver), Janssen (Silver), and Novo Nordisk (Silver).

I am delighted to share all of the Ohio-ACC CardiOhio Podcast episodes with you. To subscribe to this podcast, copy and paste this URL into the podcast app of your choice. We really hope that you will find this information valuable and useful for your practice.

Guests: Dennis Calnon, MD, FACC and Paul Cremer, MD

Guests: Lindsay Castle, DO and Kenneth Varian, MD, PhD

Guests: Michael Emery, MD, FACC and Simon Lee, MD, FACC

Guests: Ben Alencherry, MD, Joseph Pietrolungo, DO, FACC, and Andrea Robinson, MSN, ACNP, AACC

Guests: Milind Desai, MD, MBA, FACC and Mike Papale

Guest: Milind Desai, MD, MBA, FACC

Guest: Jagadish Khanagavi, MD, FACC

ACC’s 2022 Legislative Conference will take place Oct. 16-18 in person at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. The meeting will offer cardiovascular clinicians spanning the entire care team a chance to hear from ACC leaders, staff, and other experts on health policy issues affecting patients and the profession, while also providing an important opportunity to speak directly with members of Congress and their staff. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the major issues impacting the practice of cardiology and meet with your members of Congress. Register today. Please note that the registration system will only recognize the email address that received the invitation. If you would like to update your email address, contact Meg Novak.

If Gwen Goldfarb, our chapter executive, or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know.

Sincerely,

On August 6, the Ohio-ACC held its 3rd Annual Fellow in Training Virtual Bootcamp designed for first-year fellows and future cardiology applicants, led by Lauren Lastinger, MD, FACC and Aisha Siraj, MD, FACC. It was a great conference with cases, lectures, and panel discussions.If you missed it, you can see the recordings here.

Muhammad Afzal, MD, OSUMC

Indra Bole, MD, OSUMC

Otto Costantini, MD, SUMMA

Marissa Edmiston, MD, MetroHealth-CWRU

Jagadish Khanagavi, MD, FACC, UC

Khalid Murad, MD, MetroHealth-CWRU

Hemindermeet Singh, MD, FACC, MercyHealth

Kenneth Varian, MD, PhD, SUMMA

Andrew Hornick, MD, OSUMC

Hashim Jilani, MD, UC

Matthew Laubham, DO, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Chandramohan Meenakshisundaram, MD, University of Toledo

Robert Sibilia, MD, UC

Beni Verma, MD, MetroHealth-CWRU

We want to congratulate the new members of the Ohio-ACC 2022-23 FIT Council:

Ben Alencherry, MD, Cleveland Clinic – Co-Chair

Maryam Saleem, MD, University of Cincinnati – Co-Chair

Ali Azeem, MD, University Hospitals / Case Western Reserve University

Nicholas Biondi, DO, University of Cincinnati

Jasyn Blankenship, DO, Doctors Hospital OhioHealth

Razleen Brar, MD, Cleveland Clinic Children’s

Eunice Dugan, MD, Cleveland Clinic

Alexander Erskine, MD, Kettering Health Network

Brianna French, MD, Summa Health System/NEOMED

Andrew Hornick, MD, The Ohio State University

Ahmad Jabri, MD, MetroHealth

Matthew Laubham, DO, Nationwide Children’s Hospital / The Ohio State University

Chander Shekhar, MD, Aultman Hospital

Rohit Vyas, MD, University of Toledo

This year, FITs, residents, and CV team members have the opportunity to be part of the Poster Competition. Abstracts accepted for presentation at the Ohio-ACC Annual Meeting will be available On Demand through the ePoster Portal. With this exciting format, participants will showcase their posters along with MP4 voice-over PowerPoint presentations of their submissions. Submit your work by Sept. 11.

The Ohio-ACC FIT council will soon conduct its first-ever Fellow Grand Round Series. This series will be conducted by different institutions across Ohio. It aims to bring fellows across the state together via virtual noon conferences. This longitudinal interactive learning and networking platform will pave the way for better and more equitable learning experiences and provide resources for cardiology fellows across the state. Stay tuned for invitations.

ACC does not agree with or accept these proposed reductions and will continue advocating aggressively against their enactment, which is scheduled for January 1, 2023. Members are urged to utilize ACC's Action Alert system to share their opposition to these reductions through comments to the Agency before the comment period closes September 6th.

The ACC will also continue to work vigorously to address the significant structural inadequacies of the Medicare payment system through continued engagement with Congress and policy makers. Your ACC recently endorsed a framework of joint principles for Medicare payment reform with the American Medical Association and other societies. Working with our colleagues across organized medicine, your ACC will be a leading voice in efforts to solve these persistent, painful shortcomings and build a sustainable system that improves the lives of patients and the clinicians who care for them.

In April, the AHA/ACC/HFSA writing committee released an updated clinical practice guideline for the management of heart failure (HF) that expands upon the recommendations for those at-risk for HF and those with pre-HF1. These new guidelines are worth reviewing in their entirety, but the increased focus on prevention and earlier management reveals an opportunity for screening, treatment, and multidisciplinary care coordination.

The “2013 ACCF/AHA Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure” and its focused update defined Stage A (at risk for HF) as at-risk for HF without structural disease or HF symptoms2,3. The 2022 guidelines elaborate on this definition to include the absence of cardiac biomarkers associated with stretching or injury. The new guidelines similarly expand the definition of Stage B (pre-HF) to include evidence of elevated filling pressures or patients with risk factors and increased biomarkers like BNP or cardiac troponin (these cutoffs are defined in appendix 3 of the full guidelines). New to the 2022 guidelines, a role for risk prediction models such as the PCP-HF model has been highlighted as a tool for screening patients deemed at risk for HF. The need for multidisciplinary approaches to implement preventative care and risk factor modification for Stage A and Stage B patients will grow as more of our colleagues become aware of this new guidance.

The 2022 guidelines continue to emphasize optimal blood pressure control and management of pre-existing CVD or atherosclerotic disease in the Stage A population. The utilization of SGLT2 inhibitors in cardiovascular care was not reflected in the 2013 guidelines or 2017 focus update, but they are highlighted as a pharmacotherapy recommendation for patients with type 2 diabetes and CVD or at high risk of CVD. The table below reflects the GDMT recommendations for the pre-HF (stage B) population based on their LVEF findings and cardiovascular history and reinforces the role of early initiation of ACEi/ARBs and beta blockers in these patients to prevent symptomatic HF and reduce mortality.

The updated heart failure guidelines reveal an opportunity for the care team, from primary care to heart failure specialist and everyone in between, to be more vigilant about early screening for patients who may be at risk for HF, as well as earlier risk factor modification both pharmacologically and non-pharmacologically to delay progression.

Nominations for available positions on ACC’s Committees, including NCDR and ACC Accreditation Services’ committees, are now being accepted until Tuesday, Sept. 13. Interested applicants or nominators are encouraged to review the open positions on the Committee Nominations Portal and may self-nominate or nominate a colleague. Applicants will be notified of results by the end of 2022. ACC’s committee nomination process is an important opportunity to continue to increase diversity at the College and include perspectives spanning the entire profession. The Nominating Committee strongly encourages applicants from various backgrounds, cultures, specialties, practice settings and career stages. For more information, view the Committee Nominations FAQs or email committees@acc.org with questions.

First CMP Performance Assessment Window Opens Soon 

There's still time to enroll in the Collaborative Maintenance Pathway (CMP) and ensure that you have two chances to pass this year. Depending on your specialty, the first Performance Assessment window for the year was Aug. 13-21 and upcoming on Oct. 8-16. The CMP Performance Assessment windows are now nine days so you have two consecutive weekends to participate. Plus, the 7-hour requirement has been removed, so it's now it's up to you how much time to spend reading the text, watching the presentations, and answering the practice questions. Learn More.

ACC Board of Trustees Announces 2023 Slate of Officers

The ACC Board of Trustees has approved the College's newest slate of officers and trustees put forth by the ACC Nominating Committee. The 2023 slate of officers and trustees includes: B. Hadley Wilson, MD, FACC (ACC President); Cathleen Dalton Biga, MSN, RN, FACC (ACC Vice President); Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD, FACC (Trustee); Roxana Mehran, MD, FACC (Trustee); Sandra J. Lewis, MD, FACC (Trustee); and Akshay K. Khandelwal, MD, FACC (Finance Committee Chair-Elect/Chair). These officers will transition following ACC.23 in New Orleans, LA, next March. Learn more. 

With more than 6 million Americans with heart failure, patient education is key in managing and living with this condition. To help patients better understand and manage heart failure, ACC’s CardioSmart team has developed a package of tools and resources including a new Action Plan for Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). The package also includes infographics, decision aids, and updated tools teaching patients how to make the most of their follow-up visits, use checklists, daily trackers, and more. Download the tools for free.