Background/Aims: Shared decision making (SDM) tools are advantageous to support clinical decisions consistent with patient values and preferences. Numerous tools that convey cardiovascular risk have been developed and tested while showing mixed results. Aims: To develop and assess a simple SDM tool that helps patients identify and prioritize lifestyle or pharmacological actions that will most effectively reduce their cardiovascular (CV) risk. Methods: A prototype patient SDM tool developed for point of care use is presented to the patient as a companion piece that is congruent with a physician clinical decision support tool called CV Wizard. The patient tool was designed to convey clear, succinct and personalized information about blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar, weight, smoking, and aspirin use. Reversible CV risk associated with each of these risk factors is conveyed using a combination of symbols and text accommodating a range of patient educational and literacy levels. The patient tool was presented to the HealthPartners Patient Council (HPC), the patient education specialist and a number of physician and leadership groups for feedback on content and design. Results: The HPC found the initial version confusing. They wanted more specific information on the values of their current CV risk factors and preferred the more complex tool like the CV Wizard physician tool because of its quantitative detail on reversible CV risk and pharmacologic recommendations. However, they did acknowledge that not every patient would understand that level of detail. They noted that dialogue between the patient and the physician in conjunction with the tool was more important than the tool itself. Others thought the tool was a good start with minor modifications suggested. Conclusion: The HPC preferred more specific CV risk factor values and recommendations than were included on the low literacy, or simple tool we presented. Tools that are tailored or able to accommodate a wide range of educational and literacy levels may be desirable to facilitate provider-patient shared decision making discussions. The version of the patient tool discussed here will be implemented in summer of 2012.+