Indiana-ACC Newsletter, August 2022 |
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Dear Indiana-ACC Colleague,
It is my pleasure to invite you to the Indiana-ACC 2022 Annual Meeting on Saturday, September 10, at the Indianapolis Marriott North, 3645 River Crossing Pkwy, Indianapolis, IN 46240. Our planning committee has designed an excellent agenda that is accredited for CME, CNE, MOC, and CPE. We are thrilled to join you in person after meeting virtually for two years. Please plan to participate and come together as a group. Following the meeting, there will be a special networking get-together, so don't miss out. Register today!
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Indiana-ACC 2022 Annual Meeting topics include:
What Is Impacting CV Clinicians in 2022 – Report from the ACC
Edward T.A. Fry, MD, FACC, President, American College of Cardiology
Cardio-Obstetrics
- Cardio-Obstetrics: the Imperative for Team-Based Care, Mary Norine Walsh, MD, MACC
- Case Presentation - Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, Maya Guglin, MD, FACC
- Panelists: Amna Ahmed, MD & Tina Haworth
FIT Oral Competition
Rapid Fire: The Top Guidelines Overview
- Heart Failure Guidelines: Onyedika Ilonze, MD
- Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines: Parin Patel, MD
- Chest Pain Guidelines: Rana Zouveenoor Tariq, MD
- Q&A, Moderator: Khadijah Breathett, MD, FACC
Structural Intervention: Present and Future
James Hermiller, MD, FACC, MSCAI
What's New in Lipids
- Pharmacy Update, David Cordwin, PharmD
- Medical Management, David Kovacich, MD, FACC
- Q&A, Moderator: Mayank Mittal, MD, FACC
Special Networking Get-together
Indiana-ACC Poster Competition
This year, FITs, residents, and CV team members have the opportunity to be part of the Poster Competition. Abstracts accepted for presentation at the Indiana-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. Stay tuned!
We would like to thank our meeting sponsors at the time of printing: Philips (Platinum), Bristol Myers Squib (Platinum), Bayer (Gold), Baptist Health (Silver), Cincinnati Children's (Silver), Janssen (Silver), and Novartis (Silver).
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Advocating for Maternal Health
ACC Legislative Conference
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.
Indiana-ACC CardioOncology Section
The Indiana-ACC CardioOncology section recently collaborated with the Indiana Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) to provide education about cardio-oncology with the aim of growing the field across the state and providing the best outcomes for patients with cancer who have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and/or receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy. I was the keynote speaker at the annual ACCC meeting in Ft. Wayne on May 17th. Kerry Skurka, RN, BSN, David Reeves, MD, and I also presented at the annual ACCC meeting in Indianapolis on August 12th. The Indiana-ACC CardioOncology section is planning to work with the American Cancer Society to establish a statewide registry for this population. Contact us if you would like to learn more or to join this section.
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Contact Us
If Gwen Goldfarb, our chapter executive, or I can be of assistance to you, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Vijay
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Restrictive Covenant Challenges |
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The shift from independent to employed/integrated practice over the last decade has prompted concerns regarding restrictive covenants and non-compete clauses included in physician contracts. Not only do individual states have their own guidelines, but the potential benefits must be weighed against the potential risks to patient care, clinician well-being and the broader goal of achieving the quadruple aim. In response to these concerns, the ACC Board of Governors (BOG) has developed a white paper designed to be a resource for ACC members and their Chapters, in conjunction with legal counsel, on various aspects of the restrictive covenant issue. The white paper, which does not constitute official ACC policy, includes results from a survey of physician members by the BOG and MedAxiom along with an overview of legal perspectives, the current status of restrictive covenants in individual states, and a closer look at potential reasons to either retain restrictive covenants and/or restrict or eliminate them. Learn more.
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Contact CMS to Oppose Further Cuts to
RUC-Recommended Work RVUs
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Last year, despite opposition from ACC, HRS, other partner organizations, and patients, CMS reduced payment for ablation services from their 2021 values. These 2022 reductions were the result of the bundling of 3D mapping (93613), left atrial recording (93621), or intracardiac echocardiography (93662) services into the primary CPT codes for supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) (93653) and atrial fibrillation (AF) (93656) without any increases to account for the newly bundled services.
CMS recently announced in the CY2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule that it intends to further reduce reimbursement for SVT, ventricular tachycardia (VT), and AF ablations (CPT codes 93653, 93654 and 93656). Additionally, CMS indicated that it will maintain the current reduced values for add-on codes to ablate additional arrhythmias (code 93655) and to treat AF with additional ablation after pulmonary vein isolation (code 93657). CMS also proposes work RVUs that undercut well-informed recommendations for new pulmonary artery revascularization services (338X3-338X7), new pulmonary angiography injection services (93XX0-93XX3) and existing pulmonary angiography injection services (93653-93658).
Why It Matters
Beyond the troubling trend of general reductions via conversion factor cuts (proposed -4.5% for CY2023), statutory cuts from sequestration and PAYGO rules, and a flat annual payment update that fails to account for significant inflation in practice costs, patient complexity, and enhanced physician work associated with the greater utilization of same-day discharge protocols, these specific services also suffer unwarranted reductions in the proposed rule. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes further work reductions for cardiac ablation services that were already reduced significantly for 2022, reductions for existing pulmonary angiography injection services, and reduced values for new codes describing congenital pulmonary angiography and pulmonary artery revascularization services below societal recommendations.
These specific reductions are an alarmingly significant departure from the American Medical Association/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC) recommended values. The RUC survey and evaluation process (in which practicing physician feedback is used to create proposed relative values for services) was consistently disregarded in favor of lower valuations with little explanation. Despite the RUC process making great efforts to develop updated work inputs based on survey data and relativity, CMS further reduced proposed values.
How Can You Help?
The ACC supports and works to help develop reimbursement models that recognize the reality of limited CMS funding for health services, that reward high quality and high valued outcomes, that align incentives of payers, patients, and providers, and that are a fair reflection of clinician work.
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.
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4th Annual Heart Team Summit in St. Louis
The Indiana-ACC's own James Hermiller, MD, FACC and David Heimansohn, MD are among the course directors for the 4TH ANNUAL HEART TEAM SUMMIT to be held October 21-22, at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis. Virtual registration is also available. Get details here.
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.
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 will be Aug. 13-21 or 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.
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.
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