Summary: The AHA, ACC and other professional societies have done a tremendous job creating various documents to guide clinical practice. These include ACC/AHA guidelines covering numerous topics, performance measures, and clinical expert consensus documents. However there is no body of evidence that provides clear recommendations to cover all of the scenarios that we face in clinical practice. With this in mind ACC/AHA has been working on appropriateness or “appropriate use” criteria to address the issues of variability of practice from one location to another by documenting what experts deem to be the appropriate use of a particular technology. What are the implications of these new criteria? How will the information be interpreted by the public, by payers, by professional bodies? Join my discussion with Dr John Spertus from Mid America Heart Institute, an outcome investigator, clinical cardiologist, and senior author of the 2009 Appropriateness Criteria for Coronary Revascularizaton. What are your thoughts? Join in the discussion by commenting below or calling 1-866-996-5440 to leave an audio response.
