2023-24 Strategic Plan
The 2023-24 Strategic Plan sets the National Forum’s course toward our vision of people throughout society living heart-healthy, stroke-free lives. The goals and approaches draw upon the organization’s strengths as a catalyst for collaboration. The plan is centered on the National Forum’s mission to achieve health equity and optimize cardiovascular health and well-being throughout the lifespan. The plan highlights environmental factors and drivers that shape our strategy.
As you read the plan, keep in mind that the core of the National Forum is its more than 100 members from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The National Forum is intent on helping member organizations accomplish shared goals through collaboration and synergy with other members.
The Strategic Plan is a living document. It will be changed as environmental factors, new approaches, and opportunities for collective impact evolve. We welcome your input both now and in months to come to ensure the National Forum continues to create and deliver unique value as a trusted convener and spark for collaborative action.
Our Vision
People throughout society living heart healthy, stroke-free lives.
Our Mission
To spark and lead collaborative action to empower all people to attain optimal cardiovascular health and well-being throughout their lifespan.
2024 Environmental Factors
- Economic Landscape
- The cost of poor health can be measured
- Increasing evidence that prevention is cost-effective
- Artificial intelligence
- Investment in digital health
- Changes to healthcare reimbursement frameworks
- Fair opportunities to attain health
- Cultural competency is hard to teach but it can and must be done
- Large health disparities exist between urban and rural populations, and between sexes and races
- More People have access to care but big, unacceptable gaps in access and quality of care remain
- The insured population could shrink
- Health Landscape
- New/renewed interest in heart failure (HFpEF), LDL-C, Lp(a) (Industry bring funds to raise attention)
- Rising depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health concerns plus increasing knowledge that mental health and cardiometabolic health are interwoven
- Demographic changes, e.g., increase in 65+ population
- Unhealthy diets and food insecurity
- Increased attention on hypertension and maternal and child health
- More interaction is needed between healthcare delivery and public health
- Policy Landscape
- Built environment affects opportunities to attain health
- New Administration and Congress, unified government
- Debate about government’s role in protecting the public’s health particularly preventing chronic disease
- Potential changes to Medicaid coverage
- Potential changes to provider reimbursement system
- State legislation to weaken public health
- National Forum members updating their agendas and priorities
2023 – 2024 Drivers (Forces that share an organization’s strategy)
- Economic prosperity dependent on community health
- Community-level interest and commitment to improving cardiovascular health
- Attention on cardiovascular disease prevention is below the magnitude of CVD’s human and economic costs
- Healthy People 2030 goals
- National Hypertension Control Roundtable
- Preserve/protect ideal cardiovascular health through the lifespan
- Shift from volume-based to value-based care
- Cardiovascular health disparities
- Cardiovascular disease events and mortality increasing in working-age adults
- Systemic failures/shortcomings/opportunities in health and healthcare
- Imbalance of investment in upstream determinants
- Financial barriers to prevention and health promotion
- Disparities in delivery and implementation of evidence-based interventions
- Women are less likely to receive guideline-directed treatment for cardiovascular disease
- Historically under-funded/under-valued/neglected public health infrastructure
Our Focus
Issues
- Fair opportunities to attain health and well-being
- Fair access to timely and optimal care
- Non-medical Determinants of Health: Strengthening vital conditions for health and well-being
- Community health and economic prosperity
- Priority on cardiometabolic disease prevention
- Linkage of mental health and heart disease and stroke risk factors
Goals
- Elevate cardiometabolic health as a priority
- Ensure vital conditions for health and well-being are at the forefront of cardiovascular disease prevention and control
- Enhance health and well-being by supporting access to cultural, financial, physical, and social assets and mental healthcare
- Improve cardiovascular health:
- Prevention of risk factors
- Detection and treatment of risk factors
- Early identification and treatment of heart attacks and stroke
- Prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events
- Enhance (and brand) the National Forum’s strength as a thought and change leader to improve cardiometabolic health and strengthen the vital conditions for health and well-being
- Mobilize members and collaborators to improve cardiovascular health and strengthen vital conditions for health and well-being (deepen current members’ engagement and diversify membership)
Our Approach
Leading collaborative action to ensure all people have fair opportunities to make healthy choices and attain optimal cardiometabolic health
Advocacy & Policy Development
Leading collaborative action to ensure all people have fair opportunities to make healthy choices and attain optimal cardiometabolic health
Catalyst for Collaboration
Bringing public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders together to accelerate and enhance their impact
Knowledge Exchange
Facilitating exchange of expertise, insights, and factual data with partners and stakeholders
Thought Leadership
Drawing attention to innovative and inspiring ideas
Operational Excellence
Embracing principles and tools to achieve sustainable improvement and diversify resources
