Summer, 2011      

From Your Chapter President

I’m sure we are all looking forward to some good weather and vacation time, in which to unwind from this difficult year. However, here at the State Chapter, we are continuing to work on our educational initiatives. On June 3 we held the Fourth Annual Cardiac Care Associate Symposium, for RNs, PAs, NPs, pharmacists and all members of the cardiac care team, in New York City. As usual the event was a great success, with over 250 CCA’s attending. There were highly informative lectures about the latest development in coronary intervention, risk factor modification and electrocardiographic interpretation. I would like to congratulate the Planning Committee for all their hard work in managing this symposium. On a related topic, it is not too early to begin making plans to attend the 83rd Annual Scientific Session of The New York Cardiological Society and the 21st Annual Meeting of the New York State Chapter to be held in Rochester, New York on Saturday, September 24, 2011. The emphasis this year will be on new treatments for severe heart failure, including ventricular assist devices and other therapies. The meeting will also include poster presentations by the winners of the 2011 Young Investigators' Competition. Winners will receive a cash award and travel expenses. All interested cardiology fellows please go to www.ny-acc.org and click on Young Investigators’ Competition and Annual Scientific Session in the News Flash area for additional information about the meeting and the competition. More information and circulars about the meeting will be forthcoming, so look for them in your mail and email.

On a second topic: A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, written by a cardiologist, advanced the notion that unnecessary testing/ procedures by physicians is the leading cause of escalating health care costs. Though the Op-Ed piece ignores the important roles of an expanding elderly population, advances in technology and the costs of defensive medicine; there may be some validity in this point of view. Recent scientific articles have suggested that 25% of AICD’s are implanted in patients who do not meet guidelines and up to 40% of patients who receive CRT derive no benefit. Highly publicized legal cases in Maryland and Texas have accused physicians of performing unnecessary coronary interventions. The American College of Cardiology is strongly in favor of our members taking up the challenge of limiting health care costs by practicing appropriate care. AUC’s and guidelines are now available for most noninvasive and invasive procedures and are available atwww.Cardiosource.org  As a profession, we must be leaders in guideline-based, cost-effective care--otherwise, these rules will be forced upon us.     

Third topic: At the state level, there are two important bills for which we need physician action. First, the trial lawyer lobby has promoted a bill to lengthen the statute of limitations on malpractice suits, as well loosen other restrictions on medical liability proceedings. I urge you to contact your State Senate and Assembly representatives and urge them to oppose this legislation by visiting www.medmaltruth.org  In addition, if you have read this column previously, you may know that I strongly advocate legislation allowing physicians to organize and bargain collectively with insurance companies. I feel this would give physicians important rights in the medical marketplace and counterbalance the overwhelming power of insurers. A bill that would legalize such physician organizations is now before the legislature. Again, I would strongly urge you to contact your state representatives, to voice your support by visiting www.capwiz.com/mssny/state/main/?state=NY 

Please have a healthy and safe summer 2011!

Andrew VanTosh, MD, FACC

Andrew.vantosh@chsli.org