Letter From the Lipid Spin Editors: The Times They Are A-changin'

...the times they are a-changin' ~Bob Dylan

These are exciting times for Lipidologists! We can always count on change as the one sure thing in life.

Our field is changing. As health care evolves, the NLA is doing its part to position our field to take advantage of the changes that our system demands. Our leaders are providing new ways to navigate systems to the benefit of our patients. As a multidisciplinary organization, we now have even more ways for our many disciplines to contribute to accomplishing our goal: improving the practice of Clinical Lipidology. In addition to mainstream primary care, we also have taken efforts to educate within Pediatrics, Ob/Gyn and Geriatrics.

We all know that reimbursement affects the care of our patients. I am excited to see that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are now rewarding efforts to deliver lifestyle interventions in a practical and meaningful way. I am also pleased to see that as ATP IV progresses, recommendations are being developed based on a thorough and systematic examination of existing evidence. Happily, we are living in times that are more influenced by evidence rather than opinion. The NLA has developed task forces to deal with each aspect of ATP IV, recognizing that this is a wonderful way to get our message out based on the best evidence available for risk assessments and therapy.

As you will learn in this issue, many of us participated in a strategic planning session in Miami in February. We came away from the meeting energized. The NLA is consolidating; you will note more evenness in the governance of each region. There are new efforts to recognize regional leaders for their hard work. While we recognize that each region has unique challenges, we also know that uniform rules of governance are more efficient.

Our mission is to educate all professionals who practice Clinical Lipidology so that in turn our patients’ lives will be improved. Steps are under way to bring you the best evidence available to integrate clinical judgment and patient preferences with systems management. We are making strides to streamline the process, and targeting our educational offerings to move towards mature learning principles. We are looking at newer and better ways to communicate our message.

At the strategic planning meeting we discussed newer and better ways to make the Lipid Spin even more meaningful. We have the fortunate problem of having to turn down submissions! However, this has created a challenge. During the editorial process, we receive submissions that do not fit within an issue’s regional theme or scope. Many of the submissions are of good quality, yet do not fit into the theme of an upcoming issue. We are working hard to develop a solution and look forward to sharing it with you in the coming months. In the meantime, we hope you continue to look to the Lipid Spin as a practical resource to help your practice.

...the times they are a-changin' ...and the times are exciting! Prevention is finally earning its spot in the limelight. At the NLA we recognize that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let’s embrace the concept and work even harder to spread our message.