President's Message
John S. Strobel, MD, FACC |
Colleagues,
I had the opportunity to attend yet another wonderful ACC Scientific Session in March. As always, the meetings were packed with good information that I could use to remain up-to-date in my clinical practice. I am convinced there is something for everyone. In addition to the clinical information, sessions focused on lifelong learning and practice performance, improvement , and administration.
Perhaps the highlight of the meeting for me was the Legends of Cardiovascular Medicine Symposium. The careers and accomplishments of Eugene Braunwald, MD, MACC; Magdi Yacoub, MB, BCh, FACC; Jane Somerville, MD, FACC; Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, MACC; and Antonio Colombo, MD, FACC were all highlighted. Hearing them speak was both humbling and inspiring. Our profession owes much to the people who have come before us.
Looking to the future, I was pleased to see the induction of many new Fellows and Associates of the American College of Cardiology. You represent our future and I hope that you will take the opportunity to become involved with our chapter at the state and national level. There are always opportunities for involvement on councils and committees. Even within your own groups, we need advocates who are willing to inform our colleagues about ACC initiatives, such as PINNACLE, H2H, and the PAC, for example. Please contact me personally if you have questions or wish to get involved.
Thanks again.
John S. Strobel, MD, FACC
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| New Fellows of the ACC in Indiana | 
Congratulations to our newest FACCs:
Anthony J. Bashall, M.D., F.A.C.C., Indianapolis
George Edward Blake, M.D., F.A.C.C., Carmel
Geoffrey Allen Day, M.D., F.A.C.C., Jasper
Sai K. Devarapalli, M.B.B.S., F.A.C.C., Muncie
Mark D. Fisch, M.D., F.A.C.C., Carmel
Gregory S. Heumann, M.D., F.A.C.C., Bloomington
Rolf Kreutz, M.D., F.A.C.C., Indianapolis
Richard F. Otten, M.D., F.A.C.C., Fort Wayne
Vijayasree Paleru, M.B.B.S., F.A.C.C., Indianapolis
Matthew J. Scozzaro, M.D., F.A.C.C., Indianapolis
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Smoke Free Update
Edward T.A. Fry, MD, FACC |  Seven years after enacting the weakest municipal smoking ban in the midwest and two months after a stronger ban approved by the Indianapolis City-County Council was vetoed by Mayor Greg Ballard, the Council approved a modified ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places including bars, tavern, and restaurants but exempting private clubs, tobacco shops, hooka bars and off-track betting facilities. With strong bipartisan support for the revised ban, Mayor Ballard signed the legislation into law on April 16, 2012. The successful legislative effort was the culmination of many years of hard work by many people, including Indiana-ACC members lobbying local and state legislators and officials. Current Indiana-ACC Governor John Strobel had testified before the State Legislature in support of a state-wide smoking ban that was subsequently passed into law in February of this year. Representatives of IN-AHA and Smoke Free Indy, as well as Indiana-ACC Incoming Governor Ed Fry testified in favor of the enhanced Indianapolis City-County bill, presenting a united front of health care advocacy for the clean-air bill. Public support for the legislation was strong and was supported by an opinion piece in the Indianapolis Star by Drs. Kovacs, Strobel, and Fry earlier in the year. |
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Updated Performance Measures for Adults with Heart Failure
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The ACC, along with the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association-Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, released updated performance measures for adults with heart failure (HF). The 2011 performance measures include care provided in both the outpatient and inpatient setting, emphasizing the need to measure care quality over time and across providers, while also focusing on functional outcomes.
Among the significant updates to the 2011 measures set is the expansion of the beta-blocker measure to the inpatient, as well as the conversion of the measure on patient education to a quality metric, which should be used for internal quality improvement purposes only, not public reporting. Other changes to the measures include the combination of both the inpatient and outpatient settings in a measure about the use of ACE inhibitors or ARB therapy for left ventricular systolic dysfunction; the addition of a new measure on the post-discharge appointment at the time of hospital discharge; and the retirement of measures on weight measurement, blood pressure measurement, and warfarin therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation. Get more details on the new measures.
The College is using the timing of this release to promote several resources designed to help CV professionals use guidelines and performance measures at the point of care. These tools include the Heart Failure Practice Solutions Toolkit, which provides easy access to tools that allow cardiovascular professionals and others to brush up on guideline recommendations for HF care, as well as the Hospital to Home (H2H) Initiative. In addition, the following Heart Failure Checklist was released as part of a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial at ACC.12 in Chicago.
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REGISTER NOW and Get CME Credits!
The View from PINNACLE Registry: A Look Inside How Data Drive QI
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It will take place from 7-8 pm (EST) on May 14 and the faculty will include: Blair Erb, MD, FACC, Chair of the PINNACLE Network Work Group, Molly Flynn, MBA, MHA, David May, MD, PhD, FACC, Michael Mirro, MD, FACC, Sherry Shults, RN, BSN and Ganpat Thakker, MD, FACC.
Learn first-hand how five different practices are using their PINNACLE Registry data as a means to improve practice quality, efficiency, and revenue. For more information and to register, go here. To learn more about PINNACLE Network, please visit our webpage. To speak with a PINNACLE Network staff member, email Arielle Fingerman at afingerm@acc.org or Laura Ritzenthaler at lritzent@acc.org.
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| FDA Alert |
The FDA has approved safety label changes for statins, which include eliminating the requirement for routine monitoring of liver enzymes from the drug labels and adding information about the potential for generally non-serious and reversible cognitive side effects and reports of increased blood sugar and HbA1c levels. Also, the label for lovastatin has been updated with new contraindications and dose limitations when it is taken with certain medicines that can increase the risk for muscle injury. Health care professionals should follow the recommendations in the lovastatin label regarding drugs that may increase the risk of myopathy/rhabdomyolysis when used with lovastatin. The FDA continues to recommend health care professionals perform liver enzyme tests before initiating statin therapy in patients and as clinically indicated thereafter. Read more. |
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| Quick Hits | | |
Quality Improvement Ad Series Launched
View the series here.
The ACC has released a list of "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question" in cardiology as
part of the Choosing Wisely campaign, led by the ABIM Foundation with eight other medical specialty
societies.
Read more.
Our neighboring
Illinois Chapter invites you to their meeting on May 11.
Meeting Brochure.
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Connect with
Indiana-ACC |
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