Preventive Medicine 2020 Online brought together leaders from medicine and public health to examine the most pressing issues in healthcare today, and how the Nation’s healthcare system can be transformed around prevention. This virtual meeting offered high-quality medical education programming, networking opportunities, and the recognition of the best in the profession.

The meeting was organized around critical topics including innovations in community health, public health policy, evidence and practice, health systems transformation and lifestyle medicine. Each meeting day was themed around two critical topics, with distinct sessions addressing shared themes in the practice of prevention.

 

Preventive Medicine 2020 Online focused on big, bold, upstream ideas and the people, places, and programs that are making them a reality today. Transformation is only possible with a clear vision, audacious goals, an innovative mindset, and the will to implement new policy and practice, honestly evaluate change, and engage stakeholders at every level.

 

In recent years, declines in cardiovascular mortality have stalled and some cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke and heart failure, are showing increasing death rates. The decrements have been worst for persons living in rural counties in the US, where both overall and cardiovascular mortality are rising. A recently published American Heart Association Presidential Advisory entitled, “Call to Action: Rural Health,” urges the AHA and other stakeholders to make rural health a priority. In this session, two co-authors of the paper summarize existing data on rural populations, communities, and health outcomes; explore individual, social, and health delivery system factors underlying urban-rural disparities in health outcomes; propose a set of solutions spanning health system innovation, policy, and research; and invite participants to articulate preventive medicine’s role.

• Cite the health status and socio-demographics of persons who live in rural America.
• Explain healthcare delivery/public health infrastructure factors that negatively affect overall and cardiovascular health for rural residents.
• Participate in potential solutions to address the underlying structural, social, and policy issues that have negatively impacted rural areas and populations.

Dr. Joseph Iser

Dr. Wendy Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACPM

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez