Resilience and adaptability are common features of heart failure clinicians, investigators and patients as they combat heart failure, which often is a long and challenging war. The COVID pandemic requires similar aspects of adeptness, which the heart failure community is already mastering. Our clinicians clearly stand out with their unwavering dedication, versatility and resourcefulness as they continue to be in the front-lines in the wards and ICU, VAD and cardiac transplant units, while maintaining in-person clinic visits and leading telemedicine, not only as specialists, but often as primary providers. Our Heart failure community is also galvanized by the results of the new and exciting clinical trials that will likely change practice and provide newer treatment options for our patients.
HFSA is equally committed, working alongside our warriors to lead change, provide education and support, and disseminate information to reduce the burden of heart failure. I will elaborate on some of our exciting initiatives below - including our recent successes, our current focus, a future opportunity that is coming down the pipeline, and our future leadership.
Recent Success: HFSA Virtual Board Certification Review
I’m happy to share that the HFSA Virtual Board Certification Review was a great success! We had over 250 participants from eight countries, which sets a new record for the meeting. Participants from Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United States came together in the virtual meeting platform to learn alongside an outstanding faculty.
Our staff and Program Chairs Akshay Desai, Jonathan Rich and Nancy Sweitzer worked tirelessly to pull off a meeting that featured live sessions with faculty delivering content in real-time and an Audience Response System that allowed attendees to answer questions about content right on the spot. It also featured a chat box, through which participants held conversations and asked questions. I can’t wait to hear the feedback on the course, so if you participated, I encourage you to please submit candid feedback. We will use your feedback to create a great experience for the Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting, so please share openly!
Current Focus: Creating a FANTASTIC Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting 2020
Our staff and ASM Program Committee are deep in the throes of planning for the Virtual ASM. HFSA has selected Medscape Education to host the meeting on it’s MedscapeLIVE! Platform. It will offer attendees a meeting experience that is both immersive and engaging, complete with the usual scientific education, an exhibit hall that has gone virtual, and fun activities to bring attendees together.
The meeting will take place over the course of seven days, in what we’re enthusiastically calling HFSA Week, from September 30 to October 6. There will be Express Days, with a few hours of programming allow you to jump online for some fast-paced learning and engagement. There will also be two Full Days over the weekend, with activities occurring throughout the whole day. Of course, if you’re unable to make any of the activities in real-time, much of the content will be available to attendees ondemand within a 24-hour turnaround.
The schedule, while still in development, has been designed to allow for maximum real-time participation across many time zones. The Program Committee has taken careful consideration to host the most important and exciting sessions, such as the Plenary and Late Breaking Clinical Trials, at times that make sense for many attendees. In other words, we’re doing all we can to have you join us online in real-time, getting the full virtual meeting experience alongside hundreds of your peers and colleagues.
There are a few great benefits of gathering virtually, rather than in-person. We all save money and avoid out-of-office time by participating from home or the office, rather than having to book hotel and travel. There is a great opportunity to bring together your whole care team on the meeting – and HFSA is offering a group discount if 10 or more from your institution want to sign up. Simply email them at info@hfsa.org to inquire.
One last valuable benefit to meeting virtually that I want to mention: we gain back time with our families that we may have lost by traveling to a different city. This is a priceless benefit that I know that I will certainly enjoy and I hope you do too.
If you haven’t already registered for the meeting, I encourage you to do so soon, as the advance rates expire at the end of August.
Visit hfsa.org/annualscientificmeeting/registration to sign up.
Future Success: Joint Accreditation
HFSA has received the distinction of Joint Accreditation approval, a collaboration of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Accreditation Program (ANCC). To achieve this status, our educational program was reviewed steadily over an 18-month period to ensure our programs meet the rigorous standards for educational quality and independence.
JA offers HFSA the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to directly offer physician, nurse, pharmacy, and physician assistant credit on all relevant programs, including online activities. This means that HFSA will be able to enhance educational offerings and reach more healthcare professionals.
With HFSA serving members of the full multidisciplinary care provider team, JA is a tremendous achievement and a critical element of HFSA’s educational programming and membership offerings. Team-based care for people living with heart failure is vital to the success of heart failure treatments and, while HFSA has long focused on delivering education developed by and for a multidisciplinary team, joint accreditation will advance that focus by providing a new framework for the development of that education, and the ability to offer CE credits. Improvements in team-based care will result in better outcomes.
More information on the HFSA Joint Accreditation program will be available in the coming days.
Our New Leadership
HFSA Board has finalized it selection of the new officers and board members. I am very pleased to announce that Mark Drazner has been selected to serve as President-Elect, John Teerlink as Treasurer, and Mona Fiuzat as Secretary. They will start their new roles in October along with Nancy Albert who will serve as the President. I am also happy to announce that Maria Rosa Costanzo, James Fang, Michael Felker, Gregg Fonarow, Michael M. Givertz have been renewed as Board members for an additional term. For names of additional board members please click here.
This is a very exciting time to be an HFSA member. Together, we are creating the HFSA of the future, and I am very proud to work with you.
Best Regards,
Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD, FHFSA
HFSA President
@BiykemB