A call to action: bold ideas from the Minnesota Women's Heart Summit

Minnesota has the lowest overall coronary heart disease mortality rate in the United States. Yet disparities between men and women persist with regard to prevention, detection, and treatment. This has led to a gender gap not only in terms of care but also in survival rates. In an effort to better understand and close the gender gap, the Minneapolis Heart Institute, the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, the University of Minnesota, and Mayo Clinic hosted a multidisciplinary Women's Heart Summit in April 2010. The goals of the summit were to stimulate dialogue and devise strategies to eliminate untimely deaths of women from heart disease. Summit participants were asked to contribute suggestions--called "Bold Ideas"--to address sex-based differences in the prevention, detection, and treatment of heart disease. Ideas were categorized according to three themes: educational programming, modifications to the health care system, and government involvement and funding. From these, several solutions emerged: 1) Involve obstetric/gynecologic physicians in providing heart-health education; 2) involve mid-level providers (midwives and other advanced practice women's health care providers) and other health professionals in women's heart health education, and 3) maximize the use of social media and online newsfeeds to raise awareness of heart disease in women. This article summarizes the discussion of the main ideas submitted by summit participants.