President's Message
April/May 2025
Hello PaACC Colleagues:
I’m back with updates!
First, I hope you are taking care of yourselves. I am assuming that a lot of us are hopefully busy celebrating important milestones, especially the numerous cardiology fellowship graduations that are occurring. Congratulations to our new Early career physicians who are leaving fellowship and becoming new attendings!
New attendings often report experiencing a mixture of excitement and trepidation. So please remember that PaACC is your professional home. We are here to support you in your transition from FIT to attending or to new CV Team member. A reminder that your Early career representatives are Mahesh Vidula, MD (Eastern PA) and Matthew Lander, MD (Western PA) and your CV Team Representatives are Maureen Julien, CRNP, MSN (Eastern PA) and Genise Green CRNP, MSN (Western PA).
LOCAL NOTABLE PAACC ACTIVITIES
Partnership with the Italian Federation of Cardiology
You may remember from our last newsletter that PaACC and the Italian Federation of Cardiology are part of ACC’s International Outreach program, commonly called "twinning." Two of our early career physicians, Dr. Victor Farah (Allegheny General Hospital) and Dr.Joshua Levenson (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) recently had the opportunity to travel to the annual conference in Rimini, Italy. They also participated in an observership where they shadowed cardiologists at multiple centers across Italy. Pictured below are Doctors Victor Farah and Joshua Levenson with Dr. Paul Casale, FACC (founding member of this outreach program).
ACC.25 LBCT Webinar
Remember to look out for our joint ACC.25 Late Breaking Clinical Trials/LBCT webinar where our PaACC education section lead Dr. Colin Craft will join our Italian Federation of Cardiology education team and present many of ACC.25’s most impactful LBCTs. We hope to present it in a very digestible and high impact format, along with useful and practical commentary from our own experts, locally in PA and through the lens of our Italian colleagues.
Legislative Updates
Our medical community is being heard. PaACC continues to help lead the way and collaborate with other medical societies, adding strength to our numbers.
PaACC joined PAMED to co-sponsor AMA Resolution 207 (which was proposed by the American College of Surgery) to abolish venue shopping. As you may know, venue shopping is a legal strategy where plaintiffs' attorneys file medical malpractice cases in jurisdictions known for awarding large monetary awards or settlements, even if the case has no connection to that location. This has led to certain courts being overwhelmed with lawsuits, delays in resolutions of disputes, and dramatically increased awards or settlements for plaintiffs’ attorneys. Therefore, we stand with other medical societies in advocating against this practice.
On June 10, 2025, the Pennsylvania State House passed House Bill 1088 (Expanding Maternal Blood Pressure Monitoring Coverage) with a vote of 143-60. This legislation requires insurance coverage for blood pressure monitors for home use, as a pregnancy-related service on a per-pregnancy basis. The bill now heads to the PA Senate chamber for its consideration. PaACC has and continues to support this bill. We encourage you to look out for any “calls to action” which may be needed to get through these final steps! Thank you to Doctors Neerav Sheth, William Van Decker, Andy Waxler, and the rest of our PaACC advocacy team who work tirelessly on these and other important issues.
Along those lines, come practice and/or learn advocacy skills! The 2025 ACC Legislative Conference takes place on October 5-7, 2025, in Washington, DC. Please come join us as part of the PA delegation as we hear from ACC leaders, staff and other experts on health policy issues affecting patients and the profession. This signature three-day event also provides an important opportunity to speak directly with members of Congress and their staff on the final day of the meeting.
Well, that’s all for now folks!
Do find time to enjoy the summer activities.
Remember to check out our website at www.pcacc.org, follow us on X @PAChapterACC, and please reach out any time via president@pcacc.orgwith questions, ideas, needs or if you would like to get involved in PaACC activities.
Marietta Ambrose, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACC
President, PaACC
Governor, Eastern PA
