ACC PAC at Work (Click the button to donate.) * In response to the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, ACC worked with Congress and the Administration to achieve a 4 year phase-in of most scheduled cuts to cardiovascular-related services to help physicians adjust to the changes. * ACC has since worked with Representative Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) and 65 other congressional signatories on a letter sent to CMS urging them to phase-in reimbursement cuts to SPECT MPI. * ACC has worked with Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas) to introduce legislation (H.R. 4371) addressing these cuts to cardiology. The bill currently has 125 co-sponsors. * Since January 1, 2009, ACCPAC has disbursed over $750,000 to over 200 congressional candidates and committees, $60,000 of which was disbursed to members of the California delegation.100 percent of personal contributions to the PAC from ACC members are used to fund such disbursements. * Between 2009 and 2010 so far, ACCPAC has arranged 80 private, personal meetings between FACCs and their members of Congress. Facilitating strong and lasting relationships between our members and their federal lawmakers is at the core of ACCPAC's mission. Physicians, Patients Launch Medicare Petition Drive A 21 percent cut in Medicare physician reimbursement took effect April 1, and now physicians and their patients and families NATIONWIDE are fighting back. Get involved! Each year for the past decade, physicians have faced steep payment cuts that make it harder and harder for them to care for their Medicare patients. Congress knows about the problem. It knows the faulty formula Medicare uses to pay doctors does not work, but it has not fixed the problem. State medical and specialty associations across the country demand that Congress eliminate the faulty Medicare physician payment formula. The goal is to get 1 million signatures <http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown> to take to Congress and the President expressing outrage at Congress’s inaction on this issue. We believe Congress must fix Medicare now. Although the House of Representatives last fall passed a bill to repeal the broken Medicare sustainable growth rate formula, the issue remains unresolved. We need a rational Medicare physician payment system that automatically keeps up with the cost of running a practice and is backed by a fair, stable funding formula. Click the link below to add your name to this petition. Forward it to friends and colleagues to sign as well. Please sign this petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown.