Your patients want a quick fix for their heart, with two Mayo Clinic cardiologists

Some patients now bring 250 pages of readings from a wearable or home device to a single appointment, according to Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D., M.S., a preventive cardiologist at Mayo Clinic. He says that data has to be summarized and built into the electronic health record before physicians can use it.

Lopez-Jimenez and Kyla M. Lara-Breitinger, M.D., M.S., co-authors of the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy, Happy Heart," sat down with Medical Economics Senior Editor Richard Payerchin earlier this year. They discuss making home blood pressure monitoring part of routine care, setting small goals patients can track on their own and working within 15- to 30-minute visits.

They also cover body mass index (BMI), advanced lipid testing and prescribing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs in primary care.

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Editor's note: Episode timestamps and transcript produced using AI tools.

0:00 – 0:48 | Cold open Lopez-Jimenez on the question he asks patients who don't own a blood pressure monitor: how many TVs they have.

0:48 – 2:03 | Introduction Austin Littrell introduces the episode and the guests.

2:03 – 3:10 | Remembering Amir Lerman, M.D. Lopez-Jimenez describes his late co-author's pioneering work on how the inner lining of the arteries functions.

3:10 – 4:48 | Behind the book Lara-Breitinger on the more than 30 contributors across Mayo Clinic campuses, and Lopez-Jimenez on why every one of them sees patients.

4:48 – 7:50 | Beyond the quick fix Lopez-Jimenez says the biggest benefit comes from going from doing nothing to doing something, and Lara-Breitinger explains why delayed gratification makes heart health a hard sell.

7:50 – 12:25 | Goals patients can control Simple goals that are easy to track, asking patients about their biggest source of stress and why eating less salt is a better patient goal than a blood pressure number.

12:25 – 16:52 | Advanced markers and body fat Lara-Breitinger on adding high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, lipoprotein(a) and apolipoprotein B to a lipid panel, and Lopez-Jimenez on making risk testing easier for patients to get. Lara-Breitinger also explains why where patients carry fat matters more than the number on the scale.

16:52 – 17:45 | P2 Management Minute Keith Reynolds shares practice management tips and invites listeners to submit their own workflow ideas.

17:45 – 22:18 | Talking about weight Normal weight obesity, raising weight with tact and sensitivity, metabolically healthy patients with a higher BMI and why measuring waist circumference is hard in a 15- to 30-minute visit.

22:18 – 28:25 | Home blood pressure data Lopez-Jimenez on getting home readings into the electronic health record without burying physicians, why some devices aren't reliable and why diagnosis should happen at home. Lara-Breitinger on why patients need to hear that blood pressure is a big deal.

28:25 – 31:35 | GLP-1s without a specialist Lara-Breitinger on the patients who clearly qualify, the harder cases at a BMI of 25 or 26 and the cost barrier for patients paying full price.

31:35 – 35:57 | One thing to change Lopez-Jimenez's four tenets of prevention, and Lara-Breitinger on asking patients what brings them joy and lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

35:57 – End | Outro Payerchin thanks the guests and Littrell wraps the episode.