William R. Lewis, MD, FACC

I recently attended the American College of Cardiology's Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. It was especially gratifying that Ohio had the most participants of any one state -- seventeen people! We visited Capitol Hill and made quite an impressive showing in each of the legislators' offices as we filled their small meeting rooms. Please read Suzanne Hughes' piece on her experience at the Legislative Conference below. Ms. Suzanne Hughes and Dr. Amit Srivastava were the two winners of our scholarships to attend the conference.

Call Your Ohio Representative about House Bill 125
One thing that I always learn at the Legislative Conference is how important it is to reach out to and talk to our legislators. With that in mind, I would like to ask you to contact your local Ohio House of Representatives about Ohio House Bill 125, the Healthcare Simplification Act. Your State Representative needs to hear that physicians have had enough of the administrative hassles created by health insurance companies. The Healthcare Simplification Act provides for these remedies: transparency in contracting; fairness in contracting; standardized credentialing; and web-based insurance eligibility verification. Please visit our legislative action center. The Ohio House is slated to vote on this issue on October 9, so call today!

Register for the Ohio-ACC Annual Meeting
The Ohio-ACC 17th Annual Meeting is right around the corner. We have a terrific scientific session planned, a session on new ways to reduce denials and evaluate your coding, and a poster competition for fellows-in-training. Register to attend.
 

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Suzanne Hughes, MSN, RN
A record attendance convened in Washington DC for the ACC legislative conference.  This year the crowd of nearly 300 included a blend of physicians, FITs, and cardiac care associates. Ohio had an impressive delegation, including Chapter members Dr. Shyam Bhakta, Dr. Jennifer Cummings, Dr. Tyrus Frerking, Ms. Melanie Gura, Dr. Robert Hobbs, Ms. Suzanne Hughes, Dr. Suresh Koneswaran, Dr.William Lewis, Dr. Rohit Mehta, Ms. Annitta Morehead, Dr. Steve Nissen, Dr. John Schaeffer, Dr. Amit Srivastava, Dr. Bryan White, Ms. Sandy Witt, and Dr. Beverly Yamour.

On Sunday evening, we gathered at The Fairmont for a reception and dinner and heard NBC News political director Chuck Todd, who provided insight into the 2008 presidential primary. Monday morning began early with an issues briefing. We also heard a panel discussion Quality Improvement through Data Reporting and Education: A Perspective Based on ACC Experience  which included Dr. John Schaeffer.  A session on the role of research featured Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, Director of the NHLBI. The luncheon keynote-both informative and entertaining, was delivered by Al From, CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council. The Monday afternoon agenda included “A View from the Hill” and “A View from Wall Street.” To close the day of intense debriefing was a “nuts and bolts” session Grassroots and Lobbying 101. We ended Monday well-informed on the issues that we would take to congressional members the following day.

On Tuesday morning, we boarded buses and headed to Capitol Hill. Each senator and representative has on his or her staff a legislative aide (LA) that is dedicated to health issues.  In many cases, we met with the LA, but on several occasions, we had at least a few minutes in a face-to-face meeting with the congressperson also.  Ohio-ACC Governor Bill Lewis did an amazing job of leading the charge in communicating our issues, whether we had the opportunity to sit around a board table, or cluster in a busy stairwell!

We visited a total of 8 offices- a very full and energizing day.
We focused our messages on the following:
•    Proposed cuts in reimbursement
•    Reimbursement for Imaging
•    Health Information Technology
•    Transparency in Reporting

A sincere thank you to the Ohio Chapter-ACC for providing me the opportunity to participate in the ACC Legislative Conference.  I encourage Ohio-ACC members to make themselves aware of the issues affecting cardiology practice, and take the time to communicate your views to your congressional representatives. Visit the Ohio-ACC Legislative Action Center for updates.

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Physicians and physician groups have until October 19, 2007, to file a claim from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) Settlement Fund. Complete details for filing can be found here.

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The Ohio-ACC has created the Ohio-ACC Women in Leadership & Learning (WILL): a forum for women in cardiology. Our goal is to help women in cardiology reach out to other women in cardiology, to network, to learn, to share, to mentor, to question, to answer, and to create tomorrow's women leaders in cardiology. Please visit this forum now.

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