Help more Americans get their blood pressure under control with the Million Hearts initiative, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services program that aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over five years.
May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month, a good time for physicians to focus on how they can help patients better manage their blood pressure.
With one in three heart disease deaths being 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.
As part of its work to improve health outcomes around hypertension, the AMA is collaborating with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and multiple clinical sites in two states in a pilot program. The clinical sites 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 with resources from Million Hearts, including a patient wallet card and medication tracker.
Million Hearts also has an action guide to hypertension control for physicians and a variety of tools to use with patients to manage blood pressure and improve outcomes around hypertension.
