From Patient-Centered Care to Actionable Data
Cardiovascular care is increasingly complex. Clinical outcomes matter. Quality metrics matter. Data matters. But behind every measure, protocol, dashboard, and performance target is a patient whose goals, preferences, concerns, and experience should remain at the center of the work.
On Thursday, October 22, 2026, the Virginia Cardiac Services Quality Initiative (VCSQI) invites cardiovascular professionals from across Virginia to come together for the VCSQI Fall Quarterly Meeting at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond.
And you do not have to be a VCSQI member to participate.
Whether you work in cardiac surgery, cardiology, nursing, quality improvement, administration, data and analytics, perfusion, patient navigation, cardiac rehabilitation, registry management, cardiovascular operations, or another area supporting cardiovascular services, this meeting is an opportunity to step outside of your individual role and engage in a broader conversation about how we improve care together.
A Timely Conversation About Patient-Centered Cardiovascular Care
A featured presentation by Robert Lancey, MD, will focus on Patient-Centered Care—an issue that reaches every discipline and every point along the cardiovascular care continuum.
Dr. Lancey will explore the principles of patient-centered care and their relevance to cardiovascular practice, including strategies for incorporating a patient's preferences, values, and goals into clinical decision-making.
That conversation is important because patient-centered care is not the responsibility of one department or one clinician.
It happens when the surgeon and cardiologist communicate effectively.
It happens when nurses help patients understand what comes next.
It happens when navigators identify barriers before they become problems.
It happens when quality teams look beyond whether a target was achieved and ask what the patient experienced along the way.
And it happens when cardiovascular programs intentionally design systems around the people they serve.
Dr. Lancey's presentation provides an opportunity for cardiovascular professionals across disciplines to think more deeply about what it means to place patients at the center of care—not simply as a philosophy, but as part of everyday clinical and operational decision-making.
Where Clinical Care, Quality and Data Come Together
The Fall Quarterly Meeting will also look ahead at how cardiovascular programs can better use information to improve performance and outcomes.
A special focus, “The Future of VCSQI Data: Turning Clinical and Administrative Data into Action,” will examine how clinical registry information and administrative data can work together to help organizations better understand patient populations, healthcare utilization, outcomes, variation, quality, and value.
The session will include:
Andre Tolleris, Director of Data Analytics with the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, discussing the scope and potential use of administrative data alongside VCSQI clinical information.
Amber Pawlikowski, RN, MSN, CPHQ, Chief Transformation Officer, exploring how linked data and analytics can identify variation and support cardiovascular performance improvement.
A concluding discussion and Q&A focused on putting data into practice within cardiovascular programs and organizations.
Attendees will also hear updates from the Virginia Heart Attack Coalition (VHAC) on statewide efforts to strengthen STEMI and NSTEMI systems of care.
A Place for Every Cardiovascular Professional
VCSQI's strength has always come from collaboration.
The goal of the quarterly meeting is not simply to gather people who already belong to the collaborative. It is to bring together the people doing the work of cardiovascular care and create space to learn from one another.
If you are already involved with VCSQI, this is an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, learn what is developing across the collaborative, and bring new ideas back to your organization.
If you are not currently a VCSQI member, consider this an invitation to join the conversation.
Come learn what organizations across Virginia are working on. Meet colleagues facing many of the same clinical, operational, quality, and data challenges you encounter. Hear approaches that may spark an idea for your own cardiovascular program.
You do not have to submit data to VCSQI to benefit from the conversation.
You do not have to serve on a workgroup to have something to contribute.
And you do not have to be a member to begin building connections with cardiovascular professionals who share the same goal: better care and better outcomes for patients.
Join Us in Richmond
The VCSQI Fall Quarterly Meeting will take place:
In-person attendance is offered at no cost, and a virtual Zoom option is available for those unable to attend in person. Registration is required.
Cardiovascular improvement does not happen in isolation.
It happens when clinicians, nurses, administrators, analysts, quality professionals, and other members of the cardiovascular team come together, challenge one another, share what is working, and remain focused on the patients at the center of it all.
Whether you are a longtime VCSQI participant or this would be your first interaction with the collaborative, we invite you to have a seat at the table.
Register today for the VCSQI Fall Quarterly Meeting.
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