At Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence, we love to talk about the science of the value of cath accreditation and the evidence behind how we support quality invasive cardiology outcomes via our supportive accreditation process. We regularly present at conferences and produce original science and insight on the importance of third-party peer review and a commitment to continuous quality improvement.
ACE’s Bonnie H. Weiner, MD, MBA will present the session, “Ongoing Review is Necessary for Maintaining Quality” at SCAI’s Scientific Sessions, April 28 – May 1.
But we also have plenty of anecdotal evidence on the value of cath accreditation—testimonials from some outstanding physician and administrative leaders in invasive cardiology that our supportive accreditation improves outcomes, reduces risk and denials, and that the benefits of ACE accreditation far outweigh the costs:
The value of cath accreditation via ACE, in their words:
Dr. Chandan Devireddy, Emory University
“Coming from an academic institution, when we first heard about ACE, I think our initial reaction was—do we really need this? We’re an academic program; we think of ourselves as a center that serves as an example to the community, and in teaching fellow physicians that go on to practice interventional cardiology at other institutions. But the more that we learned about ACE and got involved with the process, we learned that we had a lot of room for growth—a lot of room for improvement—and the ACE accreditation process really forced us to look at ourselves look at how we can improve and think about where we want to be as a cath lab program.”
Dr. Timothy Ball, Carilion Clinic
“In the beginning, I was a little skeptical about the cost-benefit ratio. I was concerned that we might be spending a lot of money with little input and little reward, however once we got started on the process, I realized that the rewards were far greater than were the costs. We were able to revitalize our cath lab to improve processes, to improve conferences reporting and to improve overall our cath lab reporting templates and the like. All of these things were designed to meet the high standards of the ace accreditation, and all of these things made our cath labs, our interventions and our data reporting, better.”
Jane Kiah, Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute
“We justified the cost of ACE accreditation essentially by being able to differentiate ourselves and convincing our administration that the data would not be for naught—we would drive improvements in our quality and show the benefit of the accreditation through better outcomes. We’ve also seen reduction in denials and so with that alone, that has helped to pay for the cost.”
Dr. Christopher White, Oschner Clinic
“Remember that ACE is not a policeman—it’s not a police force—ACE comes to help you with your processes to ensure that you provide the best possible care to your patients. ACE acts like a coach. ACE can coach you up to be the best possible team and provide the best possible care for your patients.”
