Disparities in Cardiovascular Care: Taking Action in Clinical Settings

Reducing health disparities remains a major public health challenge in the United States, and, despite advances in the identification of risk factors and the widespread use of evidence-based strategies in the management of cardiovascular disease, racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular care persist. During this course, Dr. George A. Mensah will discuss the crucial relevance of social and environmental determinants of health and address challenges and opportunities for the attainment of health equity through evidence-based actions in the clinical setting.

Target Audience

Cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, echocardiographers, pulmonologists, hematologists, general internists, primary care physicians, intensivists, emergency medicine physicians, hospitalists, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, respiratory therapists (personal growth) and other interested healthcare providers.

Learning Objectives

  • Explain the magnitude of cardiovascular disparities and their recent trends.
  • Recognize the crucial relevance of social and environmental determinants of health.
  • Utilize the spectrum of evidence-based actions to address cardiovascular disparities and identify challenges or opportunities for disparity reduction in clinical settings.
Additional information
Bibliography: 
  • Shahu, A., Herrin, J., Dhruva, S. S., Desai, N. R., Davis, B. R., Krumholz, H. M., & Spatz, E. S. (2019). Disparities in socioeconomic context and association with blood pressure control and cardiovascular outcomes in ALLHAT. Journal of the American Heart Association, 8(15), e012277.
  • Choudhry, N. K., Bykov, K., Shrank, W. H., Toscano, M., Rawlins, W. S., Reisman, L., ... & Franklin, J. M. (2014). Eliminating medication copayments reduces disparities in cardiovascular care. Health affairs, 33(5), 863-870.
  • Mensah, G. A., Cooper, R. S., Siega-Riz, A. M., Cooper, L. A., Smith, J. D., Brown, C. H., ... & Pérez-Stable, E. J. (2018). Reducing cardiovascular disparities through community-engaged implementation research: a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute workshop report. Circulation research, 122(2), 213-230.
  • Churchwell, K., Elkind, M. S., Benjamin, R. M., Carson, A. P., Chang, E. K., Lawrence, W., ... & American Heart Association. (2020). Call to action: structural racism as a fundamental driver of health disparities: a presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 142(24), e454-e468.
Course Summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 General certificate of attendance
  • 1.00 Nurse Practitioners
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Nursing
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Respiratory Therapy
Course opens: 
06/01/2021
Course expires: 
09/30/2022

George A. Mensah, M.D., FACC, FAHA
Director, Center for Translation Research & Implementation Science
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Bethesda, Maryland

George A. Mensah, M.D., faculty of this educational activity, has no relevant financial relationship with ineligible companies* to disclose, and will not include discussion of off-label or unapproved product usage.

Harry R. Aldrich, M.D., conference director of this educational activity, non-faculty contributors and others involved in the planning, development and editing/review of the content have no relevant financial relationships to disclose with ineligible companies.*

*Ineligible companies – Companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer

Baptist Health South Florida is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Baptist Health has been re-surveyed by the ACCME and awarded Commendation for 6 years as a provider of CME for physicians.
              
Baptist Health South Florida designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.0 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

Your participation information will be shared with the ACCME, which will in turn report your points to ABIM. Successful completion of a course examination is required to earn ABIM MOC points.

NOTE: Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points will be automatically reported to the ABIM. Submissions are recorded in approximately 48 hours. You will receive an email when your credits have been processed.

Through an agreement between the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, medical practitioners participating in the Royal College MOC Program may record completion of accredited activities registered under the ACCME’s “CME in Support of MOC” program in Section 3 of the Royal College’s MOC Program.

Available Credit

  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 General certificate of attendance
  • 1.00 Nurse Practitioners
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Nursing
  • 1.00 Florida Board of Respiratory Therapy
Please login or register for a Baptist Health CME account to take this course.

NOTE: Maintenance of Certification (MOC) points will be automatically reported to the ABIM. Submissions are recorded in approximately 48 hours. You will receive an email when your credits have been processed.

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