David Pratt, MD
In November, I attended the American College of Cardiology Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, where I gathered with over 500 healthcare professionals including 94 fellows in training to learn about advocacy for our patients with cardiovascular disease. It was incredible to see such a large group of people, most of whom were healthcare providers, take time out of their busy practices to talk about how legislation affects our patients. The American College of Cardiology continuous has its hand on the pulse of the Capitol, and is a well respected consultant for many congressmen on both sides of the aisle. Learning how the College is working behind the scenes on a daily basis to push legislation in favor our patients was inspiring. Additionally, I had the distinct privilege of discussing several key bills in Congress with six congressman’s offices. Our aim this year focused on decreasing administrative burdens to maximize our time with our patients, improving access to cardiac rehabilitation, promoting smooth transition to value based payment models, securing funding for cardiovascular research for the South Asian population in the United States, and combating tobacco abuse in our youth. Each of these agenda items centered around the mission of the College, to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health. I am very grateful to the American College of Cardiology for the opportunity to represent our patients at the Capitol.

Kara Denby, MD
This week I had the opportunity to be a first time attendee of the ACC Legislative Conference. As a fellow-in-training my days are typically filled with clinical duties without much thought about medicine on a more national level. This conference provided a tremendous experience prompting me to think about medicine on larger scale and understand just how important advocacy is for our patients. Over the course of the day, our group from Ohio met with 17 different offices in the house and senate to share patient stories and strongly advocate for bills that improve our ability to provide care to our patients. I walked away with a new confidence that my voice not only matters but can have real impact on the men and women who write our laws. This is an incredible avenue for impacting the lives of millions of patients and shaping the way healthcare is delivered in our community.

Christina Fink, MD
My heart was fluttering a little. I don’t have a-fib, I thought to myself. I am just a little nervous. It was true. I was just a little nervous. Although it was my second time advocating at the National Legislative Conference with the American College of Cardiology for the state of Ohio, my team consisted of me and two other fellows-in-training who were green, and had only been to the State level Advocacy Day at best. As we walked to our first scheduled appointment with representative, we ran into the seasoned nurse practitioner who had been assigned to our group. We had not seen her all morning and were wondering if she was going to make it. We divvied up our talking points amongst ourselves and assigned certain points to people who had the best fit for the bill, based on his or her training and life experience. “This is my 10th conference,” the nurse practitioner said. I smiled. She had experience and she brought a different perspective. She demonstrated how the ACC really was an interdisciplinary team. Her position really would help in promoting a bill allowing advanced providers to order and monitor cardiac rehabilitation for patients. This IS going to be perfect, I thought to myself. And it really was. Our group of advocates was small but mighty. Meeting after meeting, legislative aids or “staffers,” listened intently and asked very insightful questions as we discussed the importance of bills pertaining to our patients’ cardiac health. One particular staffer asked us to come meet at the representative’s office, which our team found out about through a text from our ACC legislative support team. We were a little surprised, since that particular representative’s office had not been able to make an appointment for us prior to the conference. That did not matter. This was important work, and would be worth it. We skipped lunch to hustle over. The staffer asked for our input on the current bills dealing with cardiovascular health. She stated that her representative was going to be assisting with a cardiovascular panel event in a week or so and she appeared relieved that we were there to speak with her. Recognizing how the staffer and the representative appreciated our opinions and sought our input further validated my beliefs that advocating for our patients and fellow providers is important and it truly makes a difference. I will continue to advocate because I know that our work has value and I know that it makes an impact.

Marissa Edmiston, MD
This is my second time attending the ACC legislative conference and my experience was very different this time around. It was a different, better experience. While women in cardiology are a vast minority, I am fortunate to be a part of a cardiology program that is very diverse. However, the lack of women in cardiology is still palpable across the national spectrum. The visit started out with a Women in Cardiology conference where we discussed career planning and promotion of oneself. The initial exercise focused on ranking and prioritizing your values and the final session focused on creating a combined value-mission statement. I realized that my values place heavy emphasis on the humanistic aspect of medicine including communication, leadership and teamwork. My vision and mission is to become a team-based, humanistic leader in cardiology.
While my initial visit to Capitol Hill was quite daunting, this experience was much better only because I knew what to expect. The first day of the conference was educational learning the talking points and “asks” of the legislators. I was much more attuned to the important part of the “asks” than last year. I knew the important parts of emphasize so that I could create a cohesive and logical speech for the legislators. My first experience I hesitated to speak during the meetings due to nerves. This experience, I spoke at every meeting and interjected personal anecdotes as well.
Last year, I was overwhelmed by the process. I commented that the best lesson that I learned as a first time attendee is that I do have a voice for a patients even though I may not feel like it. This conference thrusts cardiologists into DC politics. Imagine DC politicians thrust into our jobs as cardiologists! This year, I was not overwhelmed but rather I thrived in the environment. The best lesson that I learned as a second year attendee is that I am a cardiologist and I absolutely will give legislators advice for what we as a profession need and what our patients need. I look forward to continue attending this conference annually.

Anne Albers, MD, FACC
Ohio-ACC shows up for legislative work ~ our group this year held 16 meetings with the Ohio Representatives’ and Senators’ healthcare teams. The group- a mix of first time attendees including a patient advocate, administrators, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and cardiologists ranging from early to mid career, was diverse. Many of us have participated at the Ohio State Legislative day; and appreciated Lindsay Davis joining Ohio ACC for the federal conference. It is great to have fellows take time to participate. We posted photos (Twitter @ohioacc ) and got our steps in on 11/5 when we walked Capitol Hill. The conference in DC is an opportunity to meet with our legislators and bring (this year) 4 talking points regarding heart health and cardiology practice in the US. The meetings offer a chance for the cardiovascular care team to learn about US government in practice, as well as to teach the legislative team about cardiology practice ‘in real life.’ I have appreciated the opportunity to meet fellows and CV team LegConf participants from throughout Ohio, and have also caught up with legislative team members from prior federal legislative days ~ connections that strengthen our input on issues that impact our patients’ access to CV care and for our CV practice.

Subramanian Gnanaguruparan, MD
This is my first time attending your ACC legislative Council in Washington DC in November 2019. Being a second year cardiology fellow, this conference made me aware of all the practical aspects of cardiology practice in the United States. Going into Capitol Hill and visiting the offices of the  representatives and senators was a completely different experience. Although we did not have the opportunity to meet the legislators in person, we did meet the thoroughly knowledgeable staff members from their offices. We discussed about our talking points and our concerns regarding the value based patient care. I would like to thank American College of Cardiology for giving me the opportunity to attend the ACC legislative conference. I hope to continue to be part of the ACC and support our efforts as a unified community advocating for future of health care and value based patient care.

Ashish Aneja, MD, FACC
The ACC Legislative Conference is one of the most important meetings that I try to attend. While providing care to patients in various settings is exceedingly important, advocating on behalf of one’s patients, peers, and society in general to effect meaningful changes in legislation is critical. I find the environment of the conference welcoming and warm with various opportunities to connect with one’s representatives, colleagues, the brilliant congressional staff and the brilliant and resourceful ACC staff. This meeting gave me an opportunity to invite our representatives to our practice and help them understand our practice conditions and challenges. The legislation regarding smoking and vaping issues is particularly meaningful and I hope that we can make real changes at the Federal level. I would love to continue attending this meeting in the future. Thank you for the opportunity.

Heather Sedlacek, ACSM-CES, M.S.
This was my second time attending the ACC Legislative Conference, and once it again it was a great experience. I attended the pre-workshop for the CV team and believe it was a well-organized session. It was great to hear from other professionals. The full day conference was also good. A bit long, but there was a lot of good information. The last day of our legislative meetings with the U.S. Representatives were the highlight of the few days. These meetings were great. Those with whom we met were pretty well engaged and felt we were able to make a connection with them in the points we were talking to them about. A few health staffers knew of the topics we were speaking to so it was easy to carry a conversation regarding the impact to our patients and practices. Overall, the conference was a great experience and enjoyed being around a great organization. Look forward to it next year as well.

Katy Maag, RN
I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity of attending the conference and ability to go to Washington DC to have the voice of my patients heard. I have a sign on my fridge that reminds me every day that be the change you want to see in the world. Having been able to attend the conference it does make a difference in heart disease as we are all aging and since heart disease is the number one killer. We need to take steps in reversing this. All four of the points that we went to the hill to discuss are all big steps in the future of heart disease. This conference I feel encased not only older but younger lives are being affected. I brought back what actions that we are pursuing and was able to discuss these with my patients.  I  was able to share with my patients what actions ACC are taking and with that some patients felt like  that they are being heard because of these efforts. We live in a rural area  and knowing that Ohio alone has 33 critical access hospitals – this is an under served area. With going to advocate for ACC and bringing that back to them they do feel that they matter. Once again thank  you for this amazing opportunity to my patients as well as to myself.