The Value of Team-Based Care, Technology in Managing CVD Risk Factors, with Benjamin Scirica, MD

As the medical community, and cardiologists especially, have learned through the bevy of pharmacologic advances in the last century, historic breakthroughs can often fail to leave their anticipated impact without proper implementation strategies. As the field of implementation science has emerged, so has the realization of the need to embrace multidisciplinary care teams to achieve more optimal outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease.

In dyslipidemias, the advent of PCSK9 inhibitors offered the prospect of lowering LDL-C levels to historic lows, yet years after their approval, the lack of uptake of the therapies once hailed as groundbreaking and revolutionary remains a key point of discussion among cardiologists, lipidologists, and other care providers, both in the clinic and in presentations at scientific meetings, such as the Family Heart Foundation’s 2024 Family Heart Global Summit.

With a theme of “The Golden Age of Lipid Lowering: From Innovation to Impact,”, the meeting, which was held in Dallas, TX from September 22 to 24, 2024, featured half a dozen sessions led by leading trialists, key opinion leaders in cardiology, and even Nobel Laureates. Among those who participated in the meeting, both as an attendee and presenter, was Benjamin Scirica, MD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Quality Initiatives in the Cardiovascular Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

During his time at the Family Heart Foundation’s annual meeting, Scirica presented on the evolving topic of team-based, coordinated care for the management of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Titled, “The Power of the Team, Technology and Coordinated Care to Improve Control of CVD Risk Factors,”, Scirica’s session put the ongoing fight against cardiovascular disease at centerstage and discussed how, and why, team-based, coordinated care offers the greatest chance for optimal intervention in contemporary settings.

“It often can mean that you have a team that's dedicated to improving 1, 2, or 3 cardiovascular risk factors, and when a group is dedicated to that, they can often get much higher success than when we leave it to the individual providers,” Scirica explained, in an interview with HCPLive Cardiology.

For more on his session, strategies for implementing a team-based approach to care, the role of advancing technologies in cardiovascular disease management, and more, check out our interview with Scirica from the 2024 Family Heart Global Summit.

Relevant disclosures for Scirica include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and others.

References:

Scirica BM. The Power of the Team, Technology and Coordinated Care to Improve Control of CVD Risk Factors. Session presented the annual Family Heart Global Summit in Dallas, Texas, on September 23, 2024.