Collaborating with ACC Accreditation: Understanding the Essentials and Maximizing ROI - 2025 Quality Summit Presentation (Non-CE)-Collaborating with ACC Accreditation: Understanding the Essentials and Maximizing ROI

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This presentation, led by Karen Mullins and Seth Stevens from Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center alongside Kevin Worley of ACC Accreditation, focuses on collaborating with ACC Accreditation to understand essentials and maximize return on investment (ROI) in cardiac program accreditation. Baylor St. Luke’s, part of Common Spirit Health, has extensive experience with ACC accreditation across multiple cardiac programs and emphasizes a culture of continuous quality improvement driven by ACC standards.<br /><br />Their approach includes restructuring the cardiovascular service line into specialized sections with multidisciplinary meetings, morbidity and mortality reviews, and concurrent case reviews, which engage physicians, staff, and leadership in quality improvement. They utilize data from NCDR registries for performance metrics and have implemented targeted projects to reduce acute kidney injury (AKI) and bleeding complications, leading to improved patient outcomes and an estimated $1.9 million in cost savings.<br /><br />Key to their success is strong physician engagement, achieved through leadership roles for influential physicians, unblinded data presentations fostering accountability, and hospital policies empowering quality reviews. Regular collaboration with ACC accreditation specialists provides guidance and continuous improvement challenges. Staff engagement is fostered via inclusive meetings, training events (like the “Closure Device Palooza”), and culture-building initiatives (e.g., “Shark Cap Friday”).<br /><br />Despite challenges such as physician time constraints and private physician buy-in, their structured multidisciplinary approach, coupled with leadership commitment, has improved operational efficiency, allowed growth in procedural volume despite reduced cath lab capacity, and created a sustained culture of clinical excellence. They emphasize defining clear motivations (“why”) for accreditation to drive commitment and success at any facility size.

Keywords

Intravascular imaging

Percutaneous coronary intervention

IVUS

OCT

Cardiovascular care

Plaque assessment

Stent placement

Coronary CT angiography

CTFFR

ACC Accreditation

Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center

cardiac program accreditation

return on investment (ROI)

continuous quality improvement

cardiovascular service line restructuring

NCDR registries

acute kidney injury (AKI) reduction

physician engagement

multidisciplinary approach