Indiana-ACC Newsletter, December 2020 |
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Donald R. Westerhausen, Jr., MD, FACC |
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Dear Indiana-ACC Colleague,
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all you do to serve our Indiana patients. While healthcare circumstances are especially challenging during the COVID-19 era, it is heartening to know that we have so many caring colleagues across the state. Your Indiana-ACC and ACC are here for you. Please avail yourself of resources like the Clinician Wellbeing portal and the COVID-19 Hub.
Indiana-ACC 2021 Virtual Advocacy Event
You are cordially invited to join the Indiana-ACC for a Virtual Advocacy Event to speak with Indiana legislators in a strong, unified voice about the importance of fighting heart disease. Attend a legislative issues briefing at 7:00 pm ET on Thursday, January 21, followed by virtual meetings with your state legislators on Friday, January 22. We will address 2021 policy priorities facing you and your patients, including raising the tobacco tax, vaping flavor restrictions, and maternal & infant mortality. Building relationships with your state lawmakers will help ensure that the Indiana General Assembly remains aware of your important issues. There is no charge for the event, and appointments with your lawmakers will be made for you. Register today.
Virtual Annual Meeting Re-Cap
We held our first Indiana-ACC Virtual Annual Meeting on Saturday, September 26. We had two excellent debates. Rumble in the Jungle: Paleo vs Vegan Diets for CV Patients featured Danielle Belardo, MD, and Ryan Daly, MD, FACC, FASE, FSCMR, FSCCT. The Great Debate: ISCHEMIA featured James Hermiller, MD, FACC, MSCAI and Subha Raman, MD, FACC.
If you missed it, you can watch the meeting recordings here:
We would like to thank our meeting sponsors: Alnylam (Platinum), Janssen (Platinum), Amgen (Gold), Amryt Pharma (Gold), Cincinnati Children's (Gold), and iRhythm (Silver).
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Congratulations to our ePoster winners:
Oral Competition 1st place: Dr. M. Hamid Bahrami (IU)
Oral Competition 2nd place: Dr. Kathleen Morris (St. Vincent Ascension)
1st year: Dr. Asad Torabi (IU)
2nd year: Dr. Vatsal Bajpai (IU)
3rd year: Dr. Sujoy Phookan (IU)
Resident: Dr. Nicholas Beaudrie (St. Vincent Ascension)
Cardiovascular Team: Ms. Patricia Gasper (Beacon Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists)
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Congratulations to Our Newly Elected Leaders
I am pleased to announce the outcome of the recent Indiana-ACC Governor and CV Team Liaison elections. First of all, thank you to each of our excellent candidates for running in this election: Julie Clary, MD, MBA, FACC, Vijay Rao, MD, PhD, FACC and Emily Keltner, MA. We appreciate their willingness to serve the Indiana-ACC.
Congratulations to Dr. Vijay Rao who will become Indiana-ACC Governor-Elect in March 2021 and will become Governor in March 2022. Dr. Rao is currently the Director of the Franciscan CardioOncology Program and Director of the Heart Failure Program and Anticoagulation Clinic. He has served on his practice executive committee, critical care committee, and continues to serve on his hospital executive service line committee where he has led numerous quality and patient care improvement initiatives. Dr. Rao has been an active member of the Indiana-ACC, having served two terms on the Council from 2015-2019.
Congratulations to Ms. Emily Keltner who will become the next Indiana-ACC CV Team Liaison. Ms. Keltner is the Program Coordinator at the Heart Institute in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her main duties include supervising two cardiac rehab sites and coordinating the other six community hospital locations. Ms. Keltner has also been involved in patient advocacy. She has attended both the Indiana-ACC and the National ACC legislative conferences for the past two years and has been an Indiana CV Team Council member since 2019.
Take Action: Protect Patient Access to Care and Prevent Cuts to Medicare Payments During COVID-19
Please contact your member of Congress and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 8702, the Holding Providers Harmless From Medicare Cuts During COVID-19 Act of 2020, a bill to halt pending Medicare payment cuts resulting from the proposed, necessary evaluation and management (E&M) code changes slated for implementation on January 1, 2021. This critical legislation recognizes the importance of implementing long-awaited increases for E&M services while also avoiding potentially harmful cuts for clinicians due to Medicare's budget neutrality requirements. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to halt the implementation of any payment reductions that could inadvertently limit patient access to care as well as further exacerbate the financial instability of health care practices.
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Happy Holidays!
Wishing you a very happy and healthy holiday season! I hope that you'll have the opportunity to share some well deserved quality time with your families.
Contact Us
If Gwen Goldfarb, our chapter executive, or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Don
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You're Invited: Webinar on 2021 E/M Changes
7pm ET on 12/14/20
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2021 E/M Changes: What You & Your Office Need to Know for Payments and Practice Impact in 2021
WHEN: 7:00 pm ET on Monday, December 14, 2020.
Invite your administrators & coders to join you.
SPEAKERS: Linda Gates-Striby, CCS-P, ACS-CA, Edward Fry, MD, FACC and Sandeep Joshi, MD, FACC
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND:
- January 1, 2021 brings the first update to office-based E/M documentation changes since 1997.
- No more counting history and exam elements!
- YOU decide if you will bill based on time or medical decision making. How those are used also changes.
- These changes let you get back to documenting what is pertinent and appropriate without the worry of adding unnecessary elements for billing purposes.
- Learn how outpatient office E&M services will change in relation to billing and documentation.
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As our Indiana-ACC Council 2021 election approaches, we would like to ask for your involvement.
The council is seeking nominations for the following vacancies:
- Northern District
- Central District
- Southern District
- Secretary-Treasurer
A nominee must be a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Affiliate, Distinguished Fellow or Honorary Fellow of the American College of Cardiology in Indiana.
Responsibilities of the Indiana-ACC Council Member
Responsibilities of the Secretary-Treasurer
The Secretary-Treasurer serves as the principal financial officer of the Chapter and shall have responsibility for maintenance of adequate books and accounts for the Chapter, have charge and custody of all funds and securities of the Chapter, be responsible for the receipt and disbursement thereof, and in general perform all duties customarily incident to the offices of Secretary and Treasurer and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned by the Chapter President or Council.
Next Steps
The deadline for recommendations is January 15, 2021.
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Fellow in Training Activities |
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Jeopardy
The FIT Jeopardy competition at ACC’s Annual Scientific Session has become one of the most popular events of the meeting. To determine which team competes in the national virtual competition at ACC.21, we will participate in a virtual FIT Jeopardy competition offered by ACC. We look forward to an exciting competition! Both Ascension St. Vincent and Indiana University teams will compete on February 6, 2021.
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ACC Cardiovascular Summit Virtual
Register for the ACC Cardiovascular Summit Virtual, which will feature two days of live sessions (beginning Feb. 1) plus three months of access to on-demand sessions and poster presentations focused on business strategies to improve cardiovascular care and patient outcomes, and much more. Get complete details.
MedAxiom Report: CV Provider Compensation and Production Survey
MedAxiom, an ACC Company, has released its eighth annual Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey. The report contains comprehensive data and analysis for cardiovascular organizations facing a new normal amid effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data findings reveal important trends across cardiology, surgery, advanced practice providers and non-clinical compensation as many programs are reevaluating compensation models and the definition of work productivity. Download the full report.
New ACC/AHA Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Guideline Encourages Shared Decision-Making
ACC Statement Outlines COVID-19 Recommendations For Patients
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACC has convened a number of scientific and educational sessions with experts from around the world and across a spectrum of disciplines. From these discussions, many points of consensus have emerged about best practices for slowing the spread of the virus and mitigating its harm. Building off of these points, the ACC has developed the following five simple measures clinicians can encourage patients to embrace this fall: 1) Recommend wearing a face mask, social distancing and washing hands; 2) Encourage influenza vaccination; 3) Allay fears and remind patients not to ignore symptoms or delay treatment; 4) Reinforce the importance of medication adherence; and 5) Assess how patients are coping, proactively address confusion and help find solutions. Read more and download clinician and patient infographics.
New ACC/AHA HF Performance and Quality Measures Released
A new measure set to evaluate heart failure (HF) care in the inpatient and outpatient settings was released Nov. 2 and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Developed by the ACC and the American Heart Association, the measure set is in accordance with the 2017 ACC/AHA/HFSA HF guideline update. Paul A. Heidenreich, MD, MS, FACC, chair of the writing committee, et al., updated the 2011 HF performance measure set, and developed "a comprehensive HF measure set" that includes 13 performance measures, four quality measures, one structural measure and two rehabilitation performance measures. Read more. |
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Renew Your ACC Membership |
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Your ACC membership renewal deadline is just around the corner on December 10th. This year, the ACC community has rallied together to face unprecedented challenges to our practices and our communities. We are stronger together and your voice is essential as we continue to fight to overcome the challenges of today and work toward a better tomorrow.
We want to be sure your voice is at the table in 2021. That’s why we’ve kept our membership prices the same—just as we have for the last five years. Additionally, if you’re unable to pay your full renewal amount—contact us. Your membership is worth more than a single year’s dues payment, and we’re happy to work with you on alternate payment options for 2021.
As an organization, we’ve been hard at work connecting you with colleagues, pursuing partnerships, publishing science and guidelines and creating resources so you can respond to today’s care challenges. Here’s a snapshot of just 5 of the ways we are supporting you now:
- ACC is helping you respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with clinical guidance, front line perspectives, coding and billing updates and more in the COVID-19 Hub.
- ACC is advocating for members’ interests, urging lawmakers, regulators and private insurers to address COVID-19-related issues like telemedicine, patient & clinician safety, provider relief funding and more.
- ACC’s NCDR and ACC Accreditation Services teams are working to mitigate administrative effort and help participating hospitals and institutions continue to understand and manage the care provided to cardiovascular patients, including those with COVID-19.
- ACC is giving clinicians more flexibility in maintaining certification by launching the Collaborative Maintenance Pathway, and by working with the American Board of Internal Medicine to extend the deadline for meeting requirements into 2021.
- ACC is working to address disparities in care and outcomes by taking tangible steps to foster a College and profession that is diverse, inclusive and representative of the patients we treat.
Additionally, at the Chapter level, we’ve been hard at work providing you with localized opportunities for involvement, education and networking—plus providing you with representation to lawmakers and decision makers at the local and state levels.
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