Upcoming Events
New Mexico Chapter Meeting                                     August 2, 2009

Colorado Dinner Meeting                                             August 5, 2009
Florida Chapter Meeting                                               August 21 – 23, 2009

North Carolina/South Carolina Chapter Meeting    September 11 - 13, 2009

Summary of Past Chapter Meetings and Activities

Alabama Chapter Meeting
The Alabama Chapter held its Annual Meeting on June 5 – 7 in Destin, Florida.  There were 118 attendees including 58 physicians. The education session covered a variety of clinical topics. W. Douglas Weaver, M.D., M.A.C.C., explained the meeting as “a diverse educational program held at an amazing resort”. Dr. Weaver gave the lunchtime presentation on healthcare reform which was well received by attendees. He commented that “the group engaged with the reform discussion and was supportive of the need for change and the emphasis on ACC projects aimed at improving quality of care”.

California 3rd Annual STEMI Summit/Mission Lifeline Palm Springs
More than 85 EMTs, Fire Battalion chiefs, nurses, ER physicians, hospital medical directors and cardiologists attended the 3rd Annual CA STemi Summit in Palm Springs CA June 4th, 2009. The agenda included the following; an overview of historic events shaping STEMI; D2B, Mission Lifeline and Current Goals; a PCI & adjunctive Medicine primer; a Cooling program overview from Minneapolis Heart Institute; and STEMI System updates from 6 of the 31 regional systems in California.. The 4th Annual event will be in San Diego CA June 2010.

Iowa Chapter Meeting

The Iowa Chapter meeting took place June 20th in Iowa City receiving high marks from attendees.  In addition to some outstanding CME presentations Molly Nichelson from the ACC's legislative affairs office gave members an update on health care reform efforts taking place in Washington and the active role ACC is playing in keeping Quality a first priority.  One of the highlights of this meeting was the first annual fellow-in-training poster competition.  Four deserving Fits received travel awards to attend the annual scientific session next year in Atlanta.  Also, for the first time CCA members had a special session devoted just to them lead by state CCA liaison Jackie Roberts, RN.   

Northern California Cardiac Care Associate Symposium San Francisco
More than 70 professionals gathered in San Francisco June 27th for the Second Annual Northern California Cardiac Care Associates Symposium. 5.5 CE credits were awarded for the day-long event which featured topics including:
- Challenges of Optimal Anticoagulation In Patients With Arrhythmias
- Ablation Therapy for SVT; How Successful Are We?
- Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
- Echocardiography-Interesting Cases, a Review

Minnesota Chapter Meeting
The annual Minnesota Chapter Conference (June 4, Bloomington, MN) explored at some length stem cell research underway and Heart Failure with Normal Systolic Function. Approximately 80 doctors and aligned professionals attended the evening event. Barry Borlaug from the Mayo Clinic and Gary Francis from the University of Minnesota discussed heart failure in patients with normal systolic function. They told those in attendance that in fact it may not be normal. Jay Traverse from the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Robert Simari from the Mayo Clinic discussed that the use of stem cells to promote cardiac repair is in its early days. Some studies have shown clinical improvement. Many different cell types and delivery ideas are under study. In Minnesota, Chapter members at the Minneapolis Heart Institute are involved in an NIH (National Institutes of Health) trial treating anterior MI both early and late with stem cell therapy.

It was an evening of stimulating education and excellent networking.

Moving Beyond D2B in Michigan: Establishing STEMI Systems of Care
More than 125 representatives from 38 PCI hospitals in Michigan attended Moving Beyond D2B in Michigan:  Establishing STEMI Systems of Care on June 10 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Michigan Mission: Lifeline co-chairs, Stuart Winston, DO and Eric Bates, MD lead the program that was designed to reveal the status of STEMI systems in the state and generate strategies for improvement.  Speakers included:

Alice Jacobs, MD, Development of Systems of Care for STEMI  Patients: An Update on Mission: Lifeline
Eric Bates, MD, Reperfusion Therapy for STEMI
Brahmajee Nallamothu, MD,    Current Status: STEMI Quality of Care National and Regional Perspectives
Robert Domeier, MD, Michigan EMS: Care of the STEMI Patient and Creating a Successful Pr-Hospital STEMI Care System
Stuart Winston, DO, Success Stories:  STEMI Systems in the US
Eve Kline-Rogers, MS, RN, NP, Current State of Care: Michigan Mission: Lifeline  Survey of Primary PCI Centers
Joe Lynch, RN, ACTION Registry-Get With the Guidelines and The Use of Registries to Support STEMI Quality of Care
Denise Busman, RN, MSN, Establishing a STEMI Hub-and-Spoke System of Care
Shukri David, MD, Achieving Optimal D2D2B Goals

The program was coordinated by AHA’s Sarah Poole with support from Alice Betz of the Michigan Chapter ACC.  

 
Mississippi Chapter Meeting 

The Mississippi Chapter of ACC meeting was held in Oxford May 30 in conjunction with the Mississippi State Medical Association. It was a successful meeting with good discussion of a number of subjects, including most of all the impending "Health Care Reform" and also future meetings of the Chapter to include CME. Health Care Reform legislation is moving forward, like a freight train. Five congressional chairmen are working on health-care reform bills, and Sen. Kennedy has just introduced the first one.  The ACC is very much involved in the process.  "If you are not at the table, you'll be on the menu".  There are several ways to stay tuned on all of this through your ACC.  The Lewin Report is an excellent way.  Dr. Jack Lewin, the CEO of the ACC, publishes this and you can view it at lewinreport.acc.org/   If you twitter, ACC will report to you contemporaneously of meetings, reports, journal and newspaper links, and the like.  Dr. Hays and I joined Twitter almost simultaneously last week.  It has been very instructive. We discussed chapter meetings of the future, especially meetings that will include CME for the members.  Heather Sistrunk did a great job of leading this discussion.  There seemed to be good consensus to plan on a major meeting, with CME credits, probably every other year. And we would continue to have our meeting yearly in conjunction with MSMA.  Maintenance of Certification will also likely be available at our CME meetings.

Missouri Chapter Second Annual Fellows-in Training Symposium
The Missouri-ACC held its second annual Fellows-in-Training Symposium on April 25^th in St. Louis.  The program focused on the future of medicine and featured top leaders from industries impacting cardiac care.  The speakers, representing advocacy, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, device manufacturers, and pharmacy benefits management, discussed their industry and how they expect outside forces to impact their industry and patient care.   Thirty-five fellows attended the meeting and support was provided by six industry sponsors.  After the program fellows and spouses attended a special tour and dinner at the St. Louis Zoo.  A committee of fellows has been established and will plan the meeting next year.     

Oregon STEMI Summit and Cardiovascular Symposium
With a record number of registrants (289) in attendance at the 1st Oregon STEMI Summit and 6th Annual Oregon Cardiovascular Symposium in Portland, Oregon on May 29 - 31, 2009, the Oregon Cardiovascular community was treated to national quality speakers, presentations on cutting-edge cardiovascular topics and the opportunity to network with other medical professionals from throughout Oregon and Washington.

Ralph Brindis, M.D., F.A.C.C., presented at both events and commented, "The conference was excellent with diverse stakeholder representation....and Oregon is ahead of the curve on the STEMI topic."

For the planners and Chapter education committee - "The bar" has been raised again for the 2010 STEMI Summit and Oregon Cardiovascular Symposium planned for June 4 - 6, 2010.

Rhode Island Practice Administrator Coding Round Table
On June 19, the Rhode Chapter held its first annual Coding Round Table at the  Metacomet Country Club, East Providence, Rim and was sponsored my Medtronic. The meeting was well attended by office managers, Practice Administrators, and Nurse practitioners from across the state. Carol Male, coding expert for Medtronic, gave a review of the updated 2009 coding for device checks. This meeting will lead the path for future meetings for office managers and physician extenders.