HFSA/ASPC Heart Failure Prevention: Making Heart Failure Prevention Accessible

A joint statement by the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) and the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA), published on August 13, 2025, shifts the focus of heart failure from recovery to prevention for the first time. “The Continuum of Prevention and Heart Failure in Cardiovascular Medicine” provides clinicians with a framework of strategies to apply across all stages of heart failure, irrespective of ejection fraction.

Instead of viewing the condition as an inevitable outcome, this statement recontextualizes heart failure as a preventable condition. It encourages clinicians to identify and manage risk factors earlier through methods such as glucose management, genetic risk screening, lifestyle interventions, weight loss, and blood pressure control.1

In the seventh and final episode of a 7-part HCPLive Special Report, moderator James Januzzi, MD, is joined by Martha Gulati, MD, MS, and Anu Lala, MD, to discuss the urgent need to bridge the gap between prevention and heart failure care.

Januzzi highlights ongoing inequities in cardiovascular care, noting that heart failure and related risk factors disproportionately affect marginalized populations with limited access to quality healthcare. He stresses that addressing these disparities will require significant health system and policy changes, especially as demographic shifts in the U.S. are projected to increase the burden of disease in these communities.

Lala adds 5 key takeaways for primary care: heart failure is preventable; prevention applies across the lifespan; screening should start early using tools like natriuretic peptides and UACR; patient care must take a whole-person, whole-team approach; and clinicians should proactively prescribe effective therapies such as SGLT2 inhibitors, ARNIs, and aggressive blood pressure control.

Our Panelists:

• James Januzzi, MD, is the Hutter Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard and the Director of Heart Failure and Biomarker Trials at the Balm Institute for Clinical Research. Januzzi serves as the moderator for this conversation.
• Martha Gulati, MD, MS, is the associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women Heart Center and the director of CVD Prevention at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. She was also the president of the ASPC from 2022-2024.
• Anu Lala, MD, is an associate professor of medicine at the Zena & Michael A Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, and a member of the Department of Population Health Science and Statistics at Icahn School of Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Hospital.

Editors’ Note: Januzzi reports disclosures with Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Inc., Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Jana Care, Siemens, and others. Gulati reports disclosures with the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Zoll, and others. Lala reports disclosures with Abiomed, AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Novo Nordisk, Sequana, Bayer, and others.

References:

1. Heart Failure Society of America. Heart Failure Society of America and American Society for Preventive Cardiology Joint Statement Calls for a Shift in Heart Failure Prevention and Care. PRNewswire. August 13, 2025. Accessed September 9, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/heart-failure-society-of-america-and-american-society-for-preventive-cardiology-joint-statement-calls-for-a-shift-in-heart-failure-prevention-and-care-302529062.html

2. Lala A, Beavers C, Blumer V, et al. The continuum of prevention and heart failure in Cardiovascular Medicine: A joint scientific statement from the Heart Failure Society of America and the American Society for Preventive Cardiology. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology. Published online August 13, 2025:101069. doi:10.1016/j.ajpc.2025.101069