It Takes a Village: Expanding Women’s Cardiovascular Care to Include the Community as well as Cardiovascular and Primary Care Teams

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Our aim is to highlight some of the current issues that prevent women from getting sex-specific and gender-specific cardiovascular care and provide recommendations for new approaches and delivery models to improve cardiovascular care for all women. RECENT FINDINGS: Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death for women in the US. Many women remain unaware of cardiovascular risk factors and many healthcare providers who care for women are also poorly informed and feel ill prepared to assess women for cardiovascular risk. Women’s Heart Centers have tried to bridge the gaps in women’s care between primary care and cardiology. Many of the impediments to care in the current models are lack of comprehensive care and socioeconomic societal limitations. SUMMARY: New models of care and delivery are essential to change cardiovascular outcomes for all women, especially women at high risk.