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Tom Scully, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, to Speak at Fifth Congress of Chest Pain Centers

COLUMBUS, OH – August 19, 2002. Tom Scully, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be the keynote speaker at the Fifth Congress of Chest Pain Centers. CMS, under Mr. Scully is regarded as exerting a major positive impact on the future of Chest Pain Centers. Chest Pain Centers represent the newly emerging and highly touted strategies for addressing heart attacks, the leading cause of death, by focusing on the early moments when a patient enters a hospital emergency department.

“The commitment that CMS has shown to health care providers on the front line of emergency cardiac care is exemplary,” states Michael A. Ross MD, FACEP, board member of the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC), the professional society hosting the conference. “It is great to see that our government leaders support the improvements in patient safety and quality of life afforded by chest pain observation units. This truly restores ones confidence in the ability of our health care system to work effectively.”

Dr. Ross makes reference to the landmark ruling by CMS this year relating to a ruling regarding reimbursement of chest pain observation services in the emergency department. Previously unreimbursed, these services provide a cost effective and quality improvement strategy for addressing the 5 million Americans with chest pain who present to emergency departments each year, half a million of whom currently die of heart attacks. CMS reconsidered its position after reviewing evidence presented by a coalition of professional medical societies, spearheaded by SCPC and including the AMA, AHA, ACC, ACEP, ACNC, ASIM, and ACP.

“This is a Win-Win-Win situation; for government, for hospitals and most importantly a win for heart attack patients,” agreed Raymond D. Bahr, MD, FACC, President Emeritus of SCPC.

Mr. Scully will be speaking on government support for quality patient care, the APC for observation, and the National AMI Project of CMS. Among Scully's major priorities at CMS are instilling at spirit of responsiveness at the agency and to make sure that people who rely on Medicare know exactly what choices they have for their health care coverage. Improving healthcare quality by providing consumers more information about their choices is another key priority.

The Fifth National Congress of Chest Pain Centers, themed “Chest Pain Centers vs. Acute Coronary Care,” focuses on reducing costs and eliminating errors. Co-sponsored by Yale University School of Medicine, the conference runs September 13-14, 2002 in New Haven Connecticut. Mr. Scully joins a faculty of the most highly regarded leaders in this field. Conference information available at www.scpcp.org , 614-326-1264, and director@scpcp.org.

About CMS
CMS is responsible for the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP programs and other National healthcare initiatives. The agency is directly responsible for $1 out of every $3 spent on healthcare in the United States and insures approximately 25% of the population of the United States (over 70 million beneficiaries) including the elderly, disabled, and some of the lowest income individuals in the country. Over one billion claims are filed with CMS each year from more than one million providers.

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and related maladies. The Society is committed to improving the quality of patient care through protocol-based medicine and the adoption of process improvement science to healthcare. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit www.scpcp.org.

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