In my frequent travels around the country, I’ve heard from physicians, patients, business leaders and elected officials collectively frustrated with the current health care system and its misaligned incentives, lack of coordination of care and inconsistent quality. Couple this frustration with 47 million uninsured Americans, an increased focus on cutting costs and rapid growth of new technologies, and you have a system in dire need of reform … and quick!

The good news is that the ACC is increasingly recognized as being at the forefront of efforts to transform the health care system – from the "inside out." Just recently I  was at the ACC’s Medical Directors’ Institute (MDI) in Phoenix, where representatives from UnitedHealthcare, Wellpoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield and other health insurance companies both large and small repeatedly praised the ACC for its leadership. The College’s data registries, appropriateness criteria and performance measures and guidelines were lauded as innovative tools that could be used to reduce costs, improve outcomes and bring about timely, efficient and equitable care.

It’s one thing for the officers and me to promote the ACC’s quality efforts, but it’s another to have it recognized by others – especially those who have a huge stake in the development of health system reform. This external acknowledgement that we are on the right track presents exciting opportunities to explore partnerships and potentially develop alternative solutions to the measures and programs being proposed by health plans and CMS. 

 

Our plans for expedited guidelines and clinical consensus documents, ambulatory data collection, and initiatives designed to bridge the gaps between science and practice are more attainable than ever before. UnitedHealthcare’s recent partnership with the ACC on the development of a pilot program to test Appropriateness Criteria for SPECT MPI is one example of an opportunity turned into action. Others will follow.

I’m excited about the possibilities ahead and I hope you will join me by taking an active role in discussions around health system reform and taking advantage of the ACC’s tools and resources already in place to help patients and practices. We must continue to make this issue a priority and continue to lead. The issues surrounding quality improvement and health system reform affect us all.