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Q&A with Dr. Richard Chazal, President of ACC

by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | March 14, 2017
Cardiology
Richard Chazal
From the March 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

HealthCare Business News spoke with American College of Cardiology President Dr. Richard Chazal just before this year’s annual meeting. Chazal provided information on his background, the latest from the organization and his thoughts on where the organization and cardiology as a whole will be headed.

HCB News: How did you get involved in health care?
RC:
In college, I saw health care as an opportunity to leverage science to do social good. I found the idea of using science to help people challenging and interesting.

HCB News: How did you get involved with the American College of Cardiology?
RC:
My involvement began principally at the state level with colleagues, including the late Dr. Henry McIntosh, and with Dr. Richard Conti and Dr. Carl Pepine. Their encouragement helped lead me to becoming the president of the Florida chapter, where I first began to engage nationally. Colleagues I met during my fellowship at Indiana University, including Dr. Charles Fisch and Dr. Doug Zipes, also encouraged me to get engaged more with the ACC.

HCB News: Why should people consider joining the ACC?
RC:
The ACC represents the largest cardiology member association in the U.S. and is among the largest in the world. It provides extensive opportunities for members to collaborate and look at the science and social issues needed to improve care for patients, and engage in information sharing both nationally and internationally. It also gives them access to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the premier journal in the field.

The ACC leverages its resources daily to enable our members to provide the best care possible to patients. This includes not only education resources, but also our advocacy efforts. ACC staff and members are continually reviewing the implementation of legislation such as MACRA and giving input to government on behalf of providers. United, our voice is much more likely to be heard.

HCB News: What initiatives are at the top of your list as president?
RC:
My main obligation is to make certain that we try to stay strategically focused on the goals developed by the board of trustees, as included in the ACC Strategic Plan. Many of the major issues relate to health care reform. From MACRA legislation and bundled care, there’s a lot going on, so we must continually monitor and engage on behalf of members and patients. We continue to collaborate with other national institutions in the development of guidelines and use of patient registries to help improve care. This year, there’s also significant discussion about maintenance of cardiology certification.

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