“The increased funding for rural and tribal communities, expanded telehealth access, and overarching vaccine rollout and distribution efforts included in the COVID-19 relief bill will go a long way in helping ensure vital patient access to cardiovascular care and reduce health care disparities highlighted by the public health emergency,” wrote ACC Health Affairs Committee Chair Samuel O. Jones IV, MD. “The ACC is also encouraged to see continued and increased funding for public health services such as COVID-19 testing, hiring contact tracers and providing personal protective equipment to frontline health care workers, given the College’s ongoing commitment to clinician and patient safety.”

Jones also noted that “we still have a long road to go in ending this pandemic” and emphasized that the ACC will keep working to “advance policy solutions that protect all patients living with or at risk of heart disease who are at greater risk from COVID-19.”