In December 2008 the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) established a new initiative, ACHA Vision 2020. ACHA Vision 2020 is an initiative designed to accelerate the development of adult congenital heart care in the United States. The vision for 2020 is that ACHD is an established field that delivers quality lifelong care for adults in the United States. In so doing, the aim is to prevent premature death and disability and prolong health and well-being for congenital heart patients nationwide.
By 2020, the goal is that upon turning eighteen every complex CHD survivor will have access to life-long ACHD care which is:
• High-Quality
• Age-appropriate
• Research- Based
• Coordinated and integrated
• Available in all regions of the country.
We are pleased to present the initial planning recommendations of ACHA’s Vision 2020 initiative meant to help us reach the goal. This paper presents the recommendations from Phase I of the V2020 initiative. These recommendations have been created over the past 12 months through conversations with many of you through your participation in the Forum in April 2009 and with those of you who served on Vision 2020 Workgroups. We thank you for your assistance. The attached paper presents our thinking to date. We believe that it is a fair representation of our collective work.
These recommendations have been accepted by the Vision 2020 Steering Committee. Our plan over the next six months is to solicit feedback on these recommendations and to raise resources to launch Phase II, implementation of the recommendations. The focus of the V2020 Forum in April will be to develop an implementation strategy for each recommendation and to discuss the opportunities and challenges ACHA is likely to encounter moving forward.
We are excited about the opportunities each of the recommendations from the four workgroups provides. We also understand that each of the recommendations requires further supporting material. The development of those supporting documents will be part of Phase II.
We are soliciting your opinions and feedback thru the end of March. Please let us know what you think about where we are as we end Phase I and the direction that each of the recommendations takes us with regard to creating a regional approach to ACHD care, to developing a business model that is financially viable for an institution delivering ACHD care, to developing the workforce required to deliver quality care, and to providing an accreditation framework that will help patients and their families know that a specified set of standards that define quality processes has been met.
If you wish to provide us with feedback, please respond via this blog. The Steering Committee will review all feedback prior to the April Forum. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Vision 2020 Steering Committee
Gary Webb, MD
William Davidson, MD
Curt Daniels, MD
Welton Gersony, MD
Barry Meil
Disty Pearson
Karen Stout, MD
Roberta Williams, MD
Amy Verstappen
Lori Strumpf
February 18, 2010 at 7:51 pm |
The overall document is excellent. Under 7. RESULTS, The question about key measures of financial performance may be daunting for many programs because of bundling of services and lack of institutional feedback to the program director.
March 23, 2010 at 11:47 pm |
From what I’ve seen, the referral and imaging parts need the most work. There is a greater need for more precise imaging of internal stuff in ACHD patients, it would appear. This needs to be technologically balanced with the dangers inherent in imaging technology. There needs to be literature for CHD patients on what to do quickly if and when a CHD specialist or accredited professional retires.