From the March 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Continued developments in transcatheter therapies are exciting as are advances in the treatment of hyperlipidemia with inhibitors of PCSK9. Major changes at ACC, including the arrivals of a new editor-in chief (Dr. Valentin Fuster) for our flagship journal (JACC) and a new editor-in-chief (Dr. Kim Eagle) for our revised web portal (www.acc.org) have been momentous. We are continuing to work diligently with the AHA and NHLBI on revising a suite of prevention guidelines, beginning with hypertension. Our suite of NCDR patient registries has continued to contribute important information on outcomes and quality. The TVT Registry, in partnership with STS, has helped set a new standard. I anticipate further consolidation of these efforts and continued forays into clinical research.

HCBN: With the U.S. population’s shift to a large number of older citizens, is the cardiology sector ready to meet the need?
PO: I think cardiology has been anticipating the need to provide care to an increasingly aging population with a higher burden of chronic diseases. We have been advocating for the maintenance of graduate medical education funding for the training of CV specialists who are needed now and in the future. The ACC has also been at the forefront of designing, implementing and maintaining team-based care approaches.
We have rapidly achieved ways to allocate individual team members to enhance efficiency and improve outcomes. We recognize that our advanced practice clinician members are an integral part of the solution to the anticipated medical workforce shortage. I am reassured in some ways that the number of graduating college students heading to medical school has not decreased — contrasted with the experience at law schools where enrollment has plummeted. A large number of graduates will be attracted to a career in cardiology given the depth and breadth of experiences our specialty has to offer. I think we’ll continue to debate how many cardiology training slots can be funded to maintain our workforce.

HCBN: How different will the new CV professionals of 2025 be from those already in the profession?
PO: Future CV professionals will have to be trained differently from the “rugged individualist” of the past. We need clinical leaders who are experts in team-based care. The CV professional of the future will be working collaboratively, able to access information from multiple sources simultaneously and likely more educated about cost, cost-effectiveness, value, and patient-centered outcomes.

March 2015 Magazine

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