NACDD’s Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Team has been committed to advancing CVH initiatives and supporting members who work in heart disease and stroke prevention programs, epidemiology, and evaluation. In February 2026, NACDD highlighted work supporting the CVH Council, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cardiac rehabilitation (CR), and other projects funded by CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and led by NACDD’s subject matter experts.
Since then, NACDD’s CVH team has been busy, supporting members and partners. Some highlights include:
Million Hearts® Advancing Cardiac Rehabilitation through Public Health Jurisdiction and Mini Grants
Through a request for proposals process, NACDD funded 25 cardiac rehabilitation implementors and four public health jurisdictions to advance cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Funding will support the use of policies, systems, and services that enhance, optimize, or expand CR referral, participation, and/or completion. Grantees intend to employ approaches such as reducing out-of-pocket costs for patients, educating referring providers on the benefits of CR, and providing incentives for patient participation. To learn more about the work of each recipient, please visit: chronicdisease.org/cardiovascularhealth/million-hearts-partnership/advancing-cardiac-rehabilitation
The Heart of the Matter Podcast
To highlight innovative practices in cardiovascular disease prevention, NACDD’s CVH team launched The Heart of the Matter podcast in 2024, featuring experts and practitioners sharing successful initiatives and emerging strategies in cardiovascular health. Recently, NACDD released their latest The Heart of the Matter podcast, featuring Alaska Department of Health’s Ashley Minaei, an NACDD Board Member and CVH Council Chair. In the podcast, Ashley shares how the Alaska Learning Collaborative is supporting CVH initiatives to foster partner engagement and quality care for their population. Ashley highlighted the learning collaborative’s work to bring together state, clinical, community, and tribal partners to achieve the state health department’s cardiovascular health goals while also prioritizing community goals.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Calls
The CVH Council Leadership Team led six peer-to-peer calls in April and May. Fifty-seven people from 34 states attended at least one of the six calls. P2P Liaisons facilitated the calls with presentations, often from their own state; guided discussion questions to foster dialogue among program and evaluation colleagues; and interactive platforms that encouraged idea sharing. Topics discussed included:
- the role of community health workers in team-based care and bidirectional referral;
- implementing self-measured blood pressure monitoring;
- exploring bidirectional referral systems;
- using data to measure the impact of strategies; and
- learning collaborative action planning.
Livable Idaho: Mapping Where Rural Populations Live
Led by NACDD’s longtime partner, Children’s Environmental Health Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago (CEHI), the Chronic Disease Geographic Information System (GIS) Network is pleased to share the latest MapLogfeaturing the interactive Livable Idaho map. Robert Graff, Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Director at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, created the map to highlight where rural populations live. Check out the “Meet the Mapmaker” section to learn more about what motivates Robert to use GIS for chronic disease surveillance and prevention, as well as his advice to peers interested in learning to create similar maps.
NACDD’s CVH Team compiles summaries and resources from these calls and shares a compilation through the CVH newsletter, Off the Cuff. Click here to subscribe to Off the Cuff to receive news and information on topics related to heart disease and stroke prevention, CVH Council events, and the latest news from Million Hearts and other partner organizations.
To learn more about NACDD’s current projects and hear directly from NACDD’s Subject Matter Experts, please check out the Impact Brief article, American Heart Month: Supporting Members in Cardiovascular Health Efforts or watch the webinars CD Connect 02/12/2026: Heart Month and Beyond, Supporting Members in Cardiovascular Health Efforts Throughout the Year or CD Connect 02/26/2026: From Heart Month to Year-Round Impact: Advancing Cardiovascular Health Together.