Creating the Business Case for a Women and Heart Disease Program

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. The framework detailed in this poster discusses how to develop an integrated multidisciplinary women and heart disease program that comprehensively addresses the growing concerns of women’s cardiovascular disease.

The presentation will outline how a team has been able to create a financially sustainable program by defining the crucial elements of the program as: Education, Research, and Service.

The education component of this framework addresses education from two aspects, community and provider. The community education is aimed at engaging providers and staff in your organization to spend time educating the community. The clinician/provider education focuses on developing ongoing forums to help clinicians/providers remain current on trends related to the treatment and prevention of women’s cardiovascular disease.

Research plays a key role in the delivery of excellent patient care, and this framework has a strong emphasis on observational, genomics, and translational research. This approach is aimed at validating findings, monitoring progress, and advancing the care of women.

Service is the final component of this model, and it encourages providers and staff to engage the community through a variety of screening tools and events throughout different regions and forums. These services will help detect cardiovascular disease earlier, and will create ongoing relationships with the community.

The comprehensive approach of this framework creates the opportunity identify women at risk for cardiovascular disease; further differentiate an organization as an outstanding leader in health care, and significantly impact the cardiovascular health of women.