ACC/AHA 2013 methodology for developing clinical data standards: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Data Standards.

by selecting either the "By Topic" link or the "By Publication Date" link. To purchase additional reprints, call 843-216-2533 or e-mail [email protected]. Expert peer review of AHA Scientific Statements is conducted by the AHA Office of Science Operations. For more on AHA statements and guidelines development, visit http://my.americanheart.org/statements and select the "Policies and Development" link. 2347 Preamble The use of standardized language is essential for all communication in medicine, with the ultimate goal of improved patient care. This is the driving force for enhanced use of clinical data and standardization of the lexicon of cardiovascular medicine to enhance the use of clinical data. The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) Task Force on Clinical Data Standards (Task Force) is at the ful-crum of these efforts, bringing together the 2 largest professional organizations that represent the House of Cardiology. The mission statements of the ACC (" to transform car-diovascular care and improve heart health ") and the AHA (" building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke ") have direct relevance to the work of the Task Force. The harmonization of cardiovascular terminology enables improved clinical communication, optimizes quality assurance , enhances process improvement efforts, facilitates clinical research, and is critical to the development and analysis of registries. Therefore, the work of the Task Force supports, enables, and advances the organizations' missions, visions, and strategies of key cardiovascular organizations in improving cardiovascular health. This document is an update of the 2007 methodology paper. 1 The goals of the current publication are 1) to describe recent changes in the methods for construction of data elements, 2) to clarify the current policies of the ACC and AHA regarding the relationships of Task Force and writing group members with industry and other entities, 3) to describe the need for harmonization of data across organizations and disciplines, 4) to articulate our position on the stewardship of cardiovascu-lar terminology and the data concepts thereof, and 5) to describe our roles and approaches to accelerating the interoperability of cardiovascular data across the clinical, research, industry, registry , regulatory, administrative, and public domains. The processes of data standard development and the work of the Task Force are dynamic, changing to be in line with the best available science and to facilitate optimal and cost-effective care, as well as clinical research. These changes are aimed at serving the members of the ACC, AHA, other healthcare professionals, …