Fitting the Puzzle Pieces on Orlando Medical News

Fitting the Puzzle Pieces

By: LYNNE JETER

ACCA Members to Brainstorm Solutions in Orlando

Program executives and administrators in cardiology, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, catherization laboratory and electrophysiology practices will meet at the 2009 Cardiovascular Administrators' Leadership Conference March 25-27 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando to discuss "Mastering the Cardiovascular Performance Puzzle: Leading, Shaping, and Measuring Success" in today's highly competitive world.

The conference is being hosted by the 750-member American College of Cardiovascular Administrators (ACCA), a specialty group of the 2,000-member American Academy of Medical Administrators (AAMA), and co-sponsored by the American Academy of Medical Administrators Research & Educational Foundation. The three-day event will immediately precede the 2009 Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

To integrate physician and administrator thinking, the conference program committee developed an educational curriculum including many sessions featuring clinician and administrative speakers, paired to reflect a common topic from multifaceted viewpoints. For example, two pre-conference seminars slated for March 25 explore options for physician/hospital alignment, co-management, employment models, and physician/hospital integration in today's challenging legal and regulatory climate.

Clinical Focus

One of two keynote speakers, Anthony DeFranco, MD, medical director of cardiovascular quality improvement for Milwaukee, Wisc.-based Aurora Health Care, will address "The 'New' Quality Improvement Movement in Cardiovascular Medicine: Practical Lessons for Administrators from the Perspective of the Practicing Physician" on March 26 in the afternoon session.

DeFranco, a native of Brooklyn, New York, attended Yale University and Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago and his cardiology and interventional cardiology fellowships at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where he then served on the faculty.

Board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology, DeFranco has been recognized internationally for his work in interventional cardiology and the issues affecting the quality of medical care. He serves on several national committees for the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, as well as several corporate advisory boards. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 scientific articles, book chapters in leading textbooks, and review articles. A dynamic speaker who has been voted Teacher of the Year at virtually every training program at which he has taught, he serves as assistant professor of medicine at Michigan State University.

At Comprehensive Cardiovascular Care Group, DeFranco spends his time practicing as an interventional and clinical cardiologist as well as on quality-of-care initiatives for the practice, for the fellowship program, and for the Aurora Health Care.

For the ACCA session, DeFranco will discuss how physicians vary widely in their grasp of contemporary quality improvement and their willingness to support such efforts. He will explore quality improvement from both the administrator and physician viewpoints to help both groups better understand each other and work together to improve care.

Administrative Slant

Another keynote speaker, Brian Contos, managing director of and a practice manager specializing in cardiovascular issues for The Advisory Board in Washington, DC, will discuss the "Outlook for Cardiovascular Services" on March 26 during the morning session. Often quoted as an industry expert, he told Richard Haugh in a story for Hospitals & Health Networks on less invasive cardiovascular treatments shifting the spotlight to catheterization labs, that "generally speaking, they were in the domain of the interventional cardiologist, and the cath lab was very coronary-centric," adding "the case mix in cath labs today is far more complex than it's ever been."

In 2007, Contos also weighed in with Haugh on an article for H&HN discussing the trend of increased outpatient care, with hospitals not getting their share. Much of that business, Contos said, went to physician entrepreneurs who started or invested in their own outpatient centers because they were attracted by potential profits and control of their outpatient procedures. Contos warned that if DRG payments were recalibrated, as proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the action would perhaps result in more procedures moving from inpatient to outpatient settings. While overall Medicare payments under the new system were projected to increase slightly, cardiology was poised for a nine percent reduction in reimbursement. The wake of the change could force hospitals to focus on new outpatient opportunities. "If this goes through, the question becomes: If we're losing money on the inpatient side, is it more desirable financially to do these procedures as outpatient?"

For the ACCA session, Contos will probe the future of interventional services and cardiothoracic surgery and will examine responses by providers to shifting demand, the mandate for specialty transformation including multidisciplinary care, thoughtful technology evaluation and adoption, and innovation beyond technology that spans the CV service line. Attendees will walk away able to outline five-year investment blueprints for key interventional and cardiothoracic surgery services.

Program Highlights

The ACCA will also sponsor concurrent sessions featuring tracks on leadership and human capital, issues that medical administrators indicated were of vital concern to them. The conference will close with virtual tours focusing on the launch of successful vascular programs.

For more information, visit the AAMA website at www.aameda.org. Non-AAMA members are eligible to receive complimentary 2009 membership with a full conference registration.