US Cardiologists Embrace Population Health.

Abstract

Having achieved steadily declining rates of coronary heart disease in the United States during the past 4 decades,1 US cardiologists like former American Heart Association (AHA) president Clyde W. Yancy, MD, are turning their sights on a new goal, preventing cardiovascular disease through population health initiatives. Yancy, who continues to volunteer for AHA, said that the substantial evidence supporting the effectiveness of population health initiatives has driven the development of AHA’s population health programs like Life Simple 7, which outlines 7 steps individuals can take to improve their heart health. “[Physicians] are not passive participants in the life cycle of heart disease,” Yancy said. “We can be much more active in the process and can, in fact, prevent disease.” Although preventing a second or third heart attack has long been the core of many cardiology practices, many cardiologists have not had as much experience with primary prevention and managing population health. But that is changing as value-based health payment reform and evidence-based population health initiatives broaden the role of cardiologists beyond one-on-one patient care into population health. Groups like the AHA, the American College of Cardiology, and the US Department of Health and Human Services, as well, have all developed initiatives to help cardiologists as they take on this new role. “It is an evolution in medical care where the responsibility of the physician extends beyond …