Continuing to address gaps in care in Minority Patients with valvular heart disease

In February 2023, the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) convened an invitation-only roundtable titled, “Continuing to Address Gaps in Care in Minority Patients with Valvular Heart Disease.” The event, held in Washington, D.C., brought together a multi-disciplinary and diverse group of stakeholders committed to improving diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for minority patients with valvular heart disease (VHD). The impetus for the convening was to follow-up from a February 2017 ABC-hosted roundtable during which attendees identified top barriers contributing to – and solutions to address – health disparities and poor outcomes for minority patients with VHD. Following that discussion, ABC issued a paper, “Addressing Disparities in Contemporary Care of the Minority Patient with Valvular Heart Disease Summary Recommendations.” The goals of the February 2023 convening were to: review progress made since the 2017 recommendations were issued; discuss areas that require continued attention and action; uncover new barriers to address VHD health inequities; and make specific recommendations regarding ways to improve outcomes for minority patients with VHD. Over the course of the convening, participants were encouraged to recommend concrete actions that can be taken to address gaps in care for minority patients with VHD. Recommendations were made during the various discussion sessions as well as through a discussion worksheet on which participants enumerated any additional recommendations or priorities they wished to raise to ABC. Pages 3-9 of this document present five priority actions that roundtable participants wish to see advanced in the near-term, along with the complete set of recommendations that were put forth during the February 2023 roundtable. The pages that follow the recommendations present a summary of the roundtable discussion. The recommendations are presented by sector: ABC, the federal government (further organized by subagency or branch of government), health plans/payors, industry, patient advocacy organizations, and providers and medical professional societies. The recommendations illustrate the importance of a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach in addressing inequities and improving diagnosis and treatment of VHD in minority patients. Please note that the recommendations are a summary from event discussions and discussion worksheets and do not imply endorsement from any of the event attendees other than the Association of Black Cardiologists. Following the meeting, we conducted a follow-up survey among meeting participants to help further prioritize and determine the most important actions to be taken.