President's Message

May 2025

Dear FCACC Members,

My name is David N. Kenigsberg, MD, FACC, FHRS, and I am a practicing electrophysiologist in Fort Lauderdale. I am both eager and excited to begin my three-year term as your Florida Chapter ACC President. I look forward to collaborating with our board, committee chairs, and our remarkable executive director, Jennifer Ray Beckman, along with her team, to serve you and ensure our chapter actively addresses the areas that impact you and your practice. If you would like to reach out to me regarding any matters related to cardiology in our state, please do not hesitate to contact me at dkenigsberg@flahrs.com.

 

First and foremost, I would like to sincerely thank and commend my predecessor, David Winchester, MD, FACC, for his hard work and dedication to the chapter and all cardiologists in Florida over the past three years. We have all benefited from his leadership, and our chapter has thrived during his tenure. We wish him well as he takes on a larger role in the college as the Chair of the national ACC Board of Governors.

 

Those who know me are aware that my passion lies in advocacy—advocating for physicians and our patients at both the state and national levels. Prior to becoming Chapter President, I served as the Advocacy Chair for the chapter for over 15 years. Together with our experienced lobbyist, Marnie George, Senior Government Affairs Advisor from Johnson & Blanton, our chapter has been at the forefront of advocating on numerous important issues. In the past legislative session alone, we were involved in over 20 bills being considered in both the State House and Senate.

 

Under the leadership of our new Advocacy Chair, Alan Ackermann, DO, FACC, the chapter has collaborated with Senator Gayle Harrell, who introduced SB 294 to protect our state’s patients with heart failure, coronary heart disease, and cardiac rhythm disorders. These complex medical conditions require direct physician involvement and should not be treated as simple "chronic conditions" by pharmacists. Thanks to the efforts of Doctors David Winchester, Mario Lopez, and Alan Ackermann, who traveled to Tallahassee to testify about this important issue, the Florida Senate passed this bill with a unanimous vote of 38-0.

 

Furthermore, I am pleased to report in my opening President’s Message that we have reestablished open communication with First Coast Service Options, Inc. (FCSO), the primary Medicare administrator in our state. This is our first direct contact since the onset of COVID-19. Our initial meeting focused on resolving PET reimbursement issues, and we are optimistic about working together to find solutions. The highlight of the meeting was our direct engagement with Anitra Graves, MD, the First Coast Contract Medical Director, who expressed a strong interest in fostering a close relationship with FCACC moving forward. In addition to inviting us back to the Contractor Advisory Committee (CAC) meetings, she has encouraged our participation in Provider Outreach and Education Advisory Group (POE-AG) meetings as well. I would like to thank Doctors Mario Lopez and Diego Sadler for joining me on this call to represent FCACC. If you are interested in participating in our Third Party Reimbursement Committee, which will oversee this relationship going forward, please reply to this email to sign up.

 

Next month, a delegation from our chapter will travel to Spain to join members of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología (Spanish Society of Cardiology) for our annual joint meeting. The event will commence in Madrid and continue in Córdoba, featuring visits to the Casa del Corazón for a joint educational program, tours of local hospital cardiology divisions, and, most importantly, opportunities to engage with our colleagues to discuss shared clinical and practical issues. I look forward to sharing insights from this spectacular experience of collaboration with our Spanish counterparts in a future President’s Message, so stay tuned.

 

Sincerely,

 

David N. Kenigsberg, MD, FACC, FHRS  

President, Florida Chapter ACC