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HFSA membership now open to patients
PHILADELPHIA —Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD, FHFSA, the incoming president of the Heart Failure Society of America, announced that membership in the society is now open to patients.
“Our membership now is expanding to incorporate our patients,” Bozkurt, professor of medicine and cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine and chair of internal medicine at the Winters Center for Heart Failure Research, said during her address, which discussed the current mission and focus of HFSA. “We’ve already been known as a diverse, multidisciplinary society and patient are really the core of our mission, so we’re proud to have them and we’re grateful for all of our patients.”
Bozkurt in her talk highlighted plans for HFSA moving forward including launching the HFSA certification program, launching a new learning management system and boosting HF awareness campaigns and member value.
“We will be launching a new learning management system that can be individualized to focus on specific learning activities,” Bozkurt said during her address. “HSFA certification will be launched this year. We will be providing an exam that is targeted not only at physicians including cardiologists, primary care physicians and emergency physicians, but nurse practitioners and pharmacists.”
In his address, Randall C. Starling, MD, MPH, outgoing president of HFSA and professor of medicine, medical director of the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure and vice chairman of cardiovascular medicine operations at Cleveland Clinic, said HFSA reached milestones in revenue, membership and meeting attendance, stating the revenue for 2019 is approximately $5.7 million, with more than $5 million in reserves.
“Attendance at the annual scientific sessions has exceeded 2,900 attendees,” which is 25% more than in 2018, he said.
“With these changes, we expect to increase our member value,” Bozkurt said. “We will strategize to integrate our initiatives so that we can be the trusted, go-to source for heart failure practitioners.” – by Scott Buzby
Reference:
Bozkurt B.
Starling RC. Opening Remarks and the State of the Society. Presented at: Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Meeting; Sept. 13-16, 2019; Philadelphia.
Disclosure: Bozkurt reports she is a consultant or advisory board member for Abbott Vascular, Bayer Health Care Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lantheus Medical Imaging, LivaNova Anthem, Respicardia, Sanofi and scPharmaceuticals, Inc. Starling reports no relevant financial disclosures.