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In This Issue:  A Strategy for Our Future Duvernoy Installed as Governor-Elect Pollard Is CCA Liaison-Elect Cardiology Coding Seminars Calling All Fellows Michigan Can Breathe Freely on May 1 Save the Date Council Election Goes ElectronicA Message from the President A Strategy for Our Future It seems that we are barraged with pleas to contact our representatives in Congress almost daily. Do you tune out? Do the College’s emails go automatically to your trash box? It is so easy to ignore those messages. We already squeeze too much into our workday and the thought of calling a legislator is uncomfortable at best. In my capacity as ACC Governor, I attend Board of Governors (BOG) meetings and am on a BOG listserv that NEVER RESTS. My colleagues have taught me that we are lost unless we are clearly and consistently communicating with Washington. I believe our patients, our offices, and cardiology will be best served by our developing a long term strategy. The strategy is simply stated: Every cardiologist should attempt to establish and build a solid relationship with their legislators. To that end, please make it your priority to meet with your one representative and two senators when they are in district. Tell them exactly how your patients, employees, and community have been impacted by Medicare cuts. Offer to be a resource. Invite them to visit your office. Help them understand the importance of guidelines, registries and appropriate use criteria. Tell them how important it is to reward quality rather than to cut practitioners of good and bad medicine alike. Let them understand how tort reform is critical to reduce costs and inappropriate tests. Of course, we must continue to fight to diminish the CMS cuts and other specific issues as they arise, but it is critical that we all establish healthy dialogues with our legislators. Note: Click here to identify your national and state legislators. Keep Current on the Issues ACC provides a wealth of information at these websites: For a concise weekly report: ACC Advocate For more detail, more often: Lewin Report For detail on the CMS cuts: Campaign for Patient Access For detail on ACC’s quality initiatives and healthcare reform:Quality First Duvernoy Installed as Governor-Elect Last fall Chapter members elected Claire Duvernoy, MD to the office of ACC Governor-elect. At ACC10 in March she officially assumed that role. She will serve one year as governor-elect and then concurrently as ACC Governor and Michigan Chapter President from March 2011- March 2014. “I would like to build on the tremendous record of the Michigan Chapter to further engage our state’s entire cardiology workforce – senior and junior cardiologists, private practice and hospital-based/academic physicians, cardiology fellows, and the cardiac care team.” says Dr. Duvernoy. “We all face dramatic challenges! We will need to be proactive in leading change in order to protect and improve the health of our patients and sustain our profession.” Dr. Duvernoy is an interventional cardiologist at the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. She is Chief of Cardiology at the VA Hospital, and directs the Women’s Heart Program at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. She has been active in the Chapter since 1994 when she served as co-president of the Fellows Society. She has since served as District Councilor, Fellows Council Advisor, and Education Chair. On the national level, Dr. Duvernoy has been a member and then chair of the ACC Credentialing and Membership Committee. Pollard Is CCA Liaison-Elect Joy A. Pollard RN, PhD, ACNP-BC has been elected to be the Chapter’s next Cardiac Care Associate (CCA) Liaison. Dr. Pollard is Director of Nursing Programs at Schoolcraft College. She has been a CCA since the inception of the designation and an active member of the Michigan Chapter participating in lobby efforts for smoke-free workplace legislation and the annual conference. An active member of the ACC PAC, she was a member of the Michigan Chapter delegation at the 2008 Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. “I believe that the Michigan Chapter can be a leader in championing a proactive stance highlighting ACC recommendations for evidenced based practice and partnerships with patients that epitomize the concept of “right thing, right patient, and right time.” said Dr. Pollard. “I look forward to working with all members of the ACC to strengthen our association by putting a human face on evidenced based health care policies that recognize the impact of current economic and social events in our state.” The CCA Liaison has an ex-officio seat on the Chapter Council and is a member of ACC’s CCA Liaison Committee. Michigan Can Breathe Freely on May 1 Thanks to your persistent calls and emails to Michigan’s
Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the Dr. Ron Davis Smokefree Act into law at the close of 2009, successfully ending more than a decade of grassroots efforts for smoke-free legislation. Boasting a new slogan -- I Love My Smoke-free Air -- the smoke-free air coalition will now work to waylay efforts on the part of special interests to weaken the law, promulgate rules to implement the law, and provide the media with positive stories to use as May 1 approaches. Save the Date! Michigan Chapter Annual Conference Oct. 8-10, 2010 Grand Traverse Resort Featured Focus Sessions Details and registration information will be released in early summer. |
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