From the NLA President: Update on NLA Initiatives

I'm happy to give you an update on an important initiative the NLA and its partners are pursuing to kick off 2014.

Just more than a month ago the National Lipid Association submitted a proposal to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the federal agency responsible for revising the ICD codes, to create new, specific ICD-10 codes for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). This includes homozygous FH and heterozygous FH. The NLA worked collaboratively with The FH Foundation to draft this proposal that we hope will have a profound impact on the diagnosis, treatment, and research of FH.

Although there are ICD codes in place for many other genetic diseases, there has never been a specific ICD code for FH. The lack of a specific ICD code has greatly hampered clinicians’ ability to collect data, identify FH patients and implement cascade screening efforts, and obtain nonpreferred and non-formulary lipid-lowering pharmacotherapy for patients. The recognition that a patient has a specific genetic disorder makes it more likely that aggressive treatment can be justified and provided.

The ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee will review this proposal and, if approved, it would go into effect on October 1, 2015. The committee will release its decision on the proposal in June, and I hope the NLA has good news to share at that time.

Speaking of FH, the NLA Annual Scientific Sessions "New Era in Lipidology: Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Guidelines and Risk Assessment in the Clinic," hosted by the Southeast Lipid Association are fast approaching. The sessions will be held May 1-4, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, FL. This will be a very informative and interactive session with international experts from the US and other countries. We hope you take advantage of the early bird rate of $550 for NLA members, available until March 12. See the "Education and Meeting News and Notes" in the back of this issue of Lipid Spin for more information about this year’s meeting.

I hope to inform in the very near future you about other exciting initiatives the NLA has taken on. Take care and I hope to see you in Orlando.