Partnering to Transform Cardiovascular Care

Transforming cardiovascular care for all can't be done alone. To that end, strategic collaborations, including two new efforts announced by the College this fall, are critical to ensuring clinicians and patients have access to resources and tools that can help optimize care and outcomes.

A new "Driving Urgency in LDL Screening" campaign, in collaboration with Amgen and Esperion, aims to increase the rate of diagnostic LDL screening in patients without a prior cardiac event as well as those with known cardiovascular disease by helping clinicians identify those who need treatment in accordance with medical guidelines.

"The current reality is that not enough patients are getting screened for elevated LDL – this is especially alarming for those who have established ASCVD," said Paul Burton, MD, PhD, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Amgen. "We see health care providers as a critical part of the solution but recognize that a shift of this scale requires assistance. We are proud to have joined forces with the ACC and Esperion on this collaborative effort to increase doctor-directed screening and, ultimately, helping to improve cardiovascular care and patient outcomes."

The national campaign is anticipated to reach about 30,000 primary care providers and cardiologists, through which ACC will assess current levels of LDL screening in their primary/secondary prevention ASCVD patients, test the implementation of various education/awareness messages among clinicians, and observe changes in the rate of LDL screening and treatment in the cohort over the course of a 12-month intervention.

"Despite all we know about the importance of LDL-C goal attainment, only 27% of high-risk individuals achieve their recommended LDL-C level. Only with a national, multi-stakeholder program of this caliber will we be able to address these significant gaps, improve access to high quality care for all, and improve cardiovascular outcomes," said JoAnne Foody, MD, FACC, chief medical officer at Esperion.

The program will be guided by an independent ACC physician steering committee and program participants will be provided with easy access to supporting resources such as relevant clinical guidance, the ACC's ASCVD Risk Estimator and CardioSmart patient education materials. The delivery of the program will be powered by Clint, the clinical intelligence platform. In addition, a comprehensive awareness and educational communication campaign about the program will be implemented in Veradigm's Practice Fusion EHR at the point of care.

In a separate collaboration, the ACC is collaborating with Hims & Hers Health, Inc. on efforts to support providers in personalizing sexual health treatment for men that also supports cardiovascular health.

The Heart Health by Hims approach will use clinical protocols that are based on principles of the ACC's ASCVD Risk Estimator, as well as allow Hims & Hers Health customers access to cardiovascular health resources and education materials through CardioSmart.

"Prevention is the ideal mechanism to decrease cardiovascular events and ensure optimal heart health and requires an infrastructure for screening individuals and empowering them to actively reduce risk factors like cholesterol levels before heart disease develops," said ACC Chief Innovation Officer Ami Bhatt, MD, FACC. "By integrating ACC clinical guidance, tools and resources into Hims' protocols, there is an opportunity to identify at-risk patients and increase patient education, lifestyle modification, initiation of appropriate preventive therapy and improve medication adherence.