GDMT, or guideline-directed medical therapy, means taking the right medications at the optimal doses to treat cardiovascular problems. There's strong evidence that for many patients, GDMT is equivalent to, or better than, cardiovascular procedures, which are more costly. Yet these medications are chronically underused.

In this episode, we delve into this problem, the reasons for it and what might be done to improve the situation. NCH Senior Medical Director of Cardiology, Dr. Fernando Villacian, is joined by Dr. Nihar Desai, Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief of the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and Medical Director for Value Innovation at the Yale New Haven Health System, and Dr. Ileana Piña, Clinical Professor at Central Michigan University and past chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Clinical Cardiology.