From the NLA President: Planning for the Future

As your new President, I first want to thank you for the opportunity to serve the National Lipid Association (NLA), and you, its members, for the 2015–2016 year. My colleague and good friend, Dr. Terry Jacobson, has been a tireless worker and advocate for the NLA in his role as president for the 2014–2015 year, and has been a tremendous role model for me. I promise to carry on Dr. Jacobson’s focus and determination to advance the NLA’s role as a world class organization that proudly focuses on evidence-based, individualized patient care for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

The central focus of the NLA has always been education of our members, and I am committed to maintaining that focus during my term. Our annual meeting and our regional Clinical Lipid Updates will continue to be packed with clinically relevant learning opportunities that will challenge you, stimulate your thinking, and help keep you abreast of all that is new in the discipline of clinical lipidology. While we will continue to provide you with access to the valuable insights of national and international thought leaders, look for more interactive education at these meetings, including audience response opportunities, debates, and pro and con sessions on controversial topics. We will also offer educational opportunities to sharpen your skills in the practical aspects of running a financially solvent clinical lipidology practice by providing you with a newly developed course related to coding and reimbursement. Our Masters in Lipidology and Lipid Academy courses will continue to be offered and updated to provide the latest information for those who seek a more intensive overview of clinical lipidology.

We will continue to provide educational updates via the NLA Self-Assessment Program, new Complex Lipid Management Self-Assessment Programs, ongoing Lipid Insights webinars, the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, the Elsevier Clinical Lipidology Resource Center, and the LipidSpin.

The NLA national agenda will focus on the pursuit of external subspecialty recognition of clinical lipidology, as such recognition is a prerequisite for increased provider reimbursement. We will be working simultaneously on achieving American College of Graduate Medical Education recognition and American Board of Internal Medicine certification. These are both complex processes that require collaborative efforts between the NLA leadership and professional staff. I want to assure you that we will keep you regularly informed on our progress in these areas.

An Expert Panel was convened by the Leadership of the NLA, and the Executive Summary of the NLA Recommendations for the Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia, Part 1 was published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology in September 2014. The full report followed in April 2015. Part 2, focusing on lipid management in special populations, will be published during the latter part of 2015. While our Recommendations stand firmly as an evidence-based document to guide lipid management for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, we appreciate the important contribution made by other stakeholder organizations. Recognizing that disparate guidelines often hamper progress in population-wide implementation of preventive strategies, we will continue to seek collaborations with colleagues in other organizations to enable us to move forward with our common goal of improved preventive cardiovascular care. The progress of those collaborations will be communicated to the NLA membership over the course of the coming year.

The NLA will focus on the enhancement of membership services and benefits by creating an independent Membership Services Council. Efforts are underway to reduce dependency on outside support, but the NLA’s broad-based agenda in the areas of policy, advocacy, and practice management, will continue to require external funding. We will continue to examine new streams of revenue that will provide the highest value to the membership and simultaneously help reduce the cost that our members are asked to bear. There will also be a focus on increased engagement of our members in our committee structure that promotes the educational, practice management, and advocacy agenda of the NLA active committee participation will be a requirement of all those who agree to serve as regional representatives and regional and national board members. The NLA national leadership will delineate specific committee-promoted tasks that support the mission on the NLA. The accomplishment of those tasks by participation in committee work, in addition to the development and accomplishment of innovative initiatives at the local and regional level, will serve as the currency for advancement for those NLA members who wish to ascend to leadership positions at the regional and national levels.

Beyond all of the advantages of NLA membership that were already described, one of the most rewarding is the opportunity to network and build friendships in our organization. Clinical lipidology is often a “lonely” discipline, as most practices do not have more than one or a couple of individuals who understand the breadth and depth of the work we do. You will have the opportunity to meet like-minded professionals from a wide variety of disciplines, a process that will enrich you both personally and professionally.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with all of you during the coming year. With your help, we can carry forward the NLA’s goal of providing the educational and advocacy venue for provision of the highest standards of lipid management for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.