Advocacy An update from our Govenor Cardiovascular professionals were well represented at the recent Legislative Conference held in Washington, D.C. September 11-13. A delegation of nine visited offices of Illinois law makers and discussed topics of importance to Illinois cardiovascular professionals. The offices of both Illinois senators were visited as were the offices of six Illinois congressman. In five cases we were able to have direct meetings with the legislator himself. Our delegation was diverse and included 5 cardiologists and 4 administrators. Three major items were discussed: The SGR, cardiovascular imaging, and tort reform. All were discussed in the context of the current budget morass. The SGR continues to be a significant issue because of the 29% medicare cut scheduled for Jan. 1. Consistently we heard that there will be no long term fix this year, that there will be another short term band-aid, but that there is no way that congress will allow the 29% cut to stand. We hope, if true, that the temporary fix will be for more at least 3 years but it is likely that there will be a fix that will only take us past next year's election. The continued threat to accessible cardiovascular imaging because of successive cuts and the effects that these have had on private practices was also discussed. We stressed that further cuts would impede access for patients because of the move to employment and integration and would cause layoffs of our employees. We stressed the role of the ACC in putting imaging in the context of appropriate use. We explained ACC's leadership in this regard, the decline in testing that has been seen the past two years because of these initiatives, and the interest that we have in controlling the overuse of radiation by implementing ACC's guidelines and appropriate use criteria. Finally, we talked about tort reform. We recruited members to sign on to an ACC developed bill(not yet submitted) that would give physicians considerable relief from the threat of litigation in return for the implementation of an EHR that is equipped with decision support software and imbedded guidelines. In all it turned out to be a useful two days. Jerome HInes, MD Governor IL ACC