News in brief - Dec. 11, 2006

Push to get patients angioplasty more quickly - Profiling guide available for Florida physicians

Push to get patients angioplasty more quickly

The American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Assn. and other heart groups have launched a campaign to help hospitals reduce the time it takes them to perform life-saving, emergency angioplasties for patients who suffer ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The campaign, dubbed Door to Balloon (D2B): An Alliance for Quality, focuses on implementing strategies that a major study found significantly reduced the time between when a patient arrived and an angioplasty balloon was inserted.

These strategies include having emergency physicians activate the catheterization lab with a single call and giving the cath lab team at most a half-hour to arrive and be ready to work.

"The introduction of this new campaign is a giant step toward increasing the quality of patient care for heart attack patients," said Raymond Gibbons, MD, president of the American Heart Assn.

The campaign was launched at the AHA's November meeting in Chicago. Campaign organizers will assess the program's impact at the cardiologists' March 2007 annual meeting in New Orleans.

To learn more about the campaign, contact Jason Byrd (jbyrd@acc.org).

Profiling guide available for Florida physicians

The Practitioner's Guide to Completing and Updating the Profile is being offered by the Florida Dept. of Health's Division of Medical Quality Assurance. The guide informs physicians and other health care practitioners in Florida about what material is optional or mandatory for the profile the state is required to maintain on them. It also details what data are verified by the MQA and how to complete and update profiles.

In 1997, the Florida Legislature passed a law requiring all MDs and DOs to have profiles that include the physician's education and training, practice address, staff privileges, final board disciplinary action and liability claims that exceed $100,000.

The state health department encourages each physician to review his or her profile frequently and report any corrections to the department immediately. The guide is available online (www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/profiling). Doctors with questions about the guide or about updating profiles may call 850-488-0595.