How are you successfully controlling your patients’ hypertension? Share your methods with your fellow physicians as part of the 2014 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge.
The latest data show that nearly one in three American adults—approximately 70 million—has high blood pressure, and more than one-half of these adults don't have it under control. The Million Hearts initiative is a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over five years.
Because one in three heart disease deaths is preventable, the AMA and other partners from across the private and public sectors are supporting the Million Hearts efforts to improve adherence to treatment plans for high blood pressure, expand access to effective care, and focus clinical attention on the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
If your practice has gotten blood pressure under control for more than 70 percent of your patients with hypertension, share how you’ve done it with the health care community. Your story could help get you recognized as a Hypertension Control Champion: Apply on the Million Hearts website. The challenge is open through Oct. 10.
Achieving blood pressure control
Some physicians are using local resources to help their patients manage their high blood pressure, for instance. Willarda Edwards, MD, an internist in Baltimore, refers her patients to community programs that offer accurate blood pressure measurements and safe exercise opportunities.
Dr. Edwards is participating in a pilot program of the AMA’s Improving Health Outcomes initiative. In this program, physicians and care teams in Maryland and Illinois are developing and testing evidence-based recommendations to improve high blood pressure, working with researchers at the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality and the Johns Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Health Disparities.
The clinical sites in the pilot program are implementing principles of safe design to improve outcomes around hypertension, creating and testing a set of evidence-based recommendations called the “M.A.P. for achieving optimal hypertension control”:
- Measuring blood pressure accurately every time it’s measured - Many things can influence a patient’s blood pressure, so ensure your practice is doing all it can to get the most accurate measurement.
- Acting rapidly to address high blood pressure readings - Use a Million Hearts resource to create a standardized hypertension treatment protocol for your practice.
- Partnering with patients to promote self-management of high blood pressure - Help patients stick to their management plans, including eating right, exercising and adhering to medications using resources from Million Hearts, including a patient wallet card and medication tracker.
Million Hearts also has a physician action guide to hypertension control and a variety of tools to help patients manage their blood pressure and improve outcomes around hypertension.
Share your success. What methods have you implemented to improve your patients’ hypertension? Describe it to your peers in a comment below or on our Facebook page.
