Dear friends,

I am excited to announce an important partnership during Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month.

To improve the diagnosis and care of people in the U.S. living with PH, the American Lung Association and PHA convened a scientific roundtable of PH experts in April. The experts created flowcharts for decision-making based on current guidelines and practice to develop a “Guidance to the Guidelines” for diagnosis and management of PH and to distribute it to health care providers across the U.S.

Although research and understanding of PH is growing, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association and ALA understand that diagnosis and treatment vary among geographic areas and health care providers. Our new “Guidance to the Guidelines” acknowledges that many primary care physicians aren’t rare lung disease experts. They may need additional guidance for recognizing symptoms, ordering diagnostic tests and knowing when to refer patients to specialty care.

Because many of the initial signs and symptoms of PH are similar to those of other lung diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, some primary care doctors might not suspect PH right away. Someone with PH might have other medical conditions associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as congenital heart disease, COPD or lupus.

We hope to see more people diagnosed when their symptoms initially arise instead of suffering for years without appropriate treatment. With earlier, accurate diagnosis, people with PH can find specialized care, targeted therapy, experience higher quality of life, and live longer with PH.

The PHA/ALA “Guidance to the Guidelines” break down the 2022 European Society of Cardiology and the European Respiratory Society PH diagnosis and treatment guidelines into easily understandable and actionable information for primary care providers.

The ESC/ERS guidelines integrate recent developments in detecting and managing PH. The guidelines help providers to identify patients earlier, and the information can be vital to disease management and health outcomes. However, the intricacy of the guidelines, complexity of the U.S. healthcare system and heterogeneity of the U.S. population creates a need for more customized, easily digestible guidance for the U.S. audience.

Please read about the “Guidance to Guidelines” as we raise PH awareness this month. If you have comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. As I always, I look forward to hearing from you.

With gratitude and respect,

Matt J. Granato, LLM, MBA (he/him)

President and CEO