CRS 2017: Cardiometabolic Risk Summit Educates Nearly 800 Attendees in Dallas

DALLAS — The Cardiometabolic Risk Summit (CRS), powered by Consultant and designed by expert leaders in primary care and cardiometabolic risk management, took place October 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. The nearly 800 primary care physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and others in attendance learned about the latest approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention cardiometabolic syndrome—the constellation of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity—which has been acknowledged as a national epidemic, affecting 1 in 3 US adults.

Since 2012, the CRS educational program has focused on practical prevention and treatment strategies from clinical experts, including education about the latest expert guidelines, evolving therapies, and emerging evidence-based and clinical trials data. The event offered 21 continuing medical education credits/continuing nursing education hours.

The educational program at this year’s summit was organized into content blocks, with day 1 devoted to 12 sessions on diabetes, day 2 featuring 10 sessions on cardiovascular disease, and day 3 offering 7 sessions on hypertension and 6 on obesity. And the CRS hallmark of robust audience participation remained a central theme.

Among the 39 educational sessions from 33 nationally and internationally renowned expert faculty members were “The Role of SGLT2 Inhibitors in the Management of T2DM,” by Anne Peters, MD, director of the Clinical Diabetes Programs at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; “The Role of HDL-C in Cardiovascular Disease,” by Amit Khera, MD, director of the Preventive Cardiology Program at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; and “Advancing Hyperlipidemia Treatment: Integrating PCSK9 Inhibitors Into Optimal Treatment Plans,” by Michael Bloch, MD, and Margo Minissian, PhD, ACNP. Dr Bloch is medical director of the Renown Institute for Heart and Vascular Health in Reno, Nevada, and Dr Minissian is a cardiology NP and clinical lipid specialist at the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, California.

In keeping with CRS’s focus on practical strategies, the “Culinary Medicine in the Clinical Practice” session, featured a live cooking demonstration by Timothy S. Harlan, MD—TV’s “Dr. Gourmet”—and Chef Leah Sarris, RD, from the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“Nutrition is what ties together the clinical approach to diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity,” Dr. Harlan said, making culinary medicine a natural fit in the management of cardiometabolic disease. “It’s not medications alone, or lifestyle alone, it’s both, and culinary medicine is an important component of helping patients get well and stay well,” he said.

“It’s a food-first approach to culinary medicine and healthy food preparation,” Chef Sarris said, noting that the far-reaching approach includes not only practical healthy meal planning tips, but also information about helping patients overcome barriers to cooking meals and eating healthily to stave off cardiometabolic disease, including the cost and unavailability of healthy food in many areas, and even social barriers such as a lack of transportation to a grocery store.

CRS co-chair Edward Shahady, MD, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Florida in Jacksonville and president and medical director of the Diabetes Master Clinician Program, said that the structure of the summit’s curriculum advances understanding by allowing a variety of clinical viewpoints to be presented at one sitting.

“It allows the opportunity for a discussion of cardiometabolic medicine approaches from multiple perspectives—primary care providers and specialists; physicians, NPs, PAs, and others,” he said. “And the 20 devoted minutes of Q&A after each session allows for a unique dialogue,” he added.

Benjamin Leong, MD, a CRS speaker from the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, said the summit’s organization of content mirrors the way health care providers learn during their educations. “The presentation of subjects in blocks allows a deeper dive and gets back to the root of how we are trained,” he said. “It’s a natural approach that is well-suited to clinical learning.”

If patient engagement is the new “blockbuster drug,” coaching is the delivery system, said Eileen O’Grady, RN, NP, PhD, during the summit’s kickoff session, “Putting the Patient First: Motivating Your Patients at Cardiometabolic Risk.” Dr O’Grady, an NP and certified wellness coach, presented practical coaching strategies to inspire patients, to identify their learning needs and obstacles, to set goals, and to build accountability, all with the objective of more effectively engaging and motivating patients to combat cardiometabolic disease successfully.

During Friday’s featured session, “Clinician Resilience: Finding Your Compass,” Clare Hawkins, MD, MSc, counseled health care providers to focus on themselves as part of a larger strategy of improving the cardiometabolic health of their patients. Using an evidence-based approach to assessing external and internal drivers of clinician burnout and the impact on quality of care and safety, Dr Hawkins shared practical strategies for developing an individualized action plan to improve personal resilience and to avoid burnout.

Attendees explored the exhibit hall, where industry partners joined Consultant in presenting information about the latest cardiometabolic medicine-related products and services for improving patient care.

This year’s CRS was presented in partnership with the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, whose more than 7,800 members make it the state’s largest medical specialty organization; the Central Texas Physician Assistant Society, which represents PAs in the greater Austin metropolitan area; and the Obesity Society, which is committed to improving the lives of those with obesity, nurturing careers of obesity scientists and practitioners, and promoting the interdisciplinary nature of obesity research, management, and education.

The 2018 CRS will take place at the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas, September 14-16.

—Michael Gerchufsky, ELS, CMPP, Managing Editor