This activity is supported by an independent education grant from Lilly. This online education program has been designed solely for healthcare professionals in the US. It is not suitable for healthcare professionals in any other country.

Join leading experts Dr Reena Mehra, Dr Douglas Kirsch and Dr Virend Somers for this accredited virtual webinar. This interactive, 75-minute live-virtual webinar equips primary care clinicians to re-frame obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as a core driver of cardiometabolic risk while mastering rapid, workflow-integrated screening and diagnostic pathways.

Session Highlights

• Cardiometabolic Re-Framing: Shift clinical perspective from viewing OSA as a narrow "sleep issue" to managing it as a central driver of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.
• Workflow-Integrated Screening: Learn to seamlessly apply rapid, point-of-care screening tools (such as STOP-BANG) within the constraints of a busy 15-minute consultation.
• Targeted Diagnostic Activation: Gain practical criteria to confidently choose between Home Sleep Apnea Testing (HSAT) and specialist referrals based on individual patient and practice contexts.
• Live Expert Modeling & Peer Polling: Watch U.S. faculty demonstrate real-time clinical reasoning for complex presentations, and benchmark your practice norms using interactive live polling.
• Equitable & Contextual Care: Discover actionable strategies to overcome real-world U.S. practice friction, socioeconomic barriers, and insurance-related access constraints (Commercial vs. Medicaid).

Who Should Watch

This program is designed for healthcare professionals involved in the screening, diagnosis, and long-term clinical management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) including:

• Primary Care Physicians
• Nurse Practitioners (NPs)
• Physician Assistants

Faculty

Dr Reena Mehra, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the Cleveland Clinic, where she serves as the Director of Sleep Disorders Research within the Neurological Institute's Sleep Center. Her extensive research portfolio focuses on the intersection of sleep and cardiovascular health, specifically investigating the relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and abnormal cardiac electrophysiology. Through both epidemiological analyses and clinical trials, she explores how various sleep disorders contribute to cardiovascular disease, establishing her as a key contributor to the understanding of the hemodynamic and mechanistic links between sleep apnea and cardiac outcomes.

Dr Douglas Kirsch, MD is the Medical Director of Sleep Medicine at Atrium Health, a Professor of Internal Medicine and Neurology, and a Clinical Professor at the University of North Carolina. A Fellow and former President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), he earned his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts, followed by residency training at the University of Rochester and a fellowship at the University of Michigan. Dr Kirsch’s research focuses on evaluating the impact of obstructive sleep apnea therapies on patient hospitalization rates and leveraging consumer digital health technologies for remote sleep assessment.

Dr Virend Somers, MD, PhD is a consultant cardiologist in the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases at the Mayo Clinic, with joint appointments in the Division of Nephrology and Internal Medicine and the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering. Dr Somers also directs the Cardiovascular Facility and the Sleep Facility within the Center for Clinical and Translational Science. He holds the Alice Sheets Marriott Professorship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Somers earned his medical degrees at the University of Natal in South Africa. He served as registrar in anesthesiology in South Africa and completed a residency in general, neurosurgical, obstetric, pediatric and cardiac anesthesia at King Edward Hospital. He received his doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford University. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Iowa and a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Dr Somers actively serves in professional organizations, including the American Physiological Society and the American Heart Association. In addition, he is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and American College of Cardiology, and he serves on the Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board of the National Institutes of Health. He has been elected to membership of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the AAP and the Association of University Cardiologists.

Disclosures

Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (Partners) requires every individual in a position to control educational content to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies that have occurred within the past 24 months. Ineligible companies are organizations whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. All relevant financial relationships are mitigated according to Partners policies.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (Partners) and MedAll. Partners is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician Continuing Education

Partners designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing Continuing Professional Development

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Nursing Continuing Professional Development activity is 1.25 ANCC contact hours.

Fee Information

There is no fee for this educational activity.