Best Practices to Manage Hypertension

What is the Problem?

Hypertension

Approximately 75 million Americans 18 years and older have high blood pressure and only 37.5 million (54%) of them have their blood pressure under control. Uncontrolled high Blood Pressure (BP) increases the risk for heart disease and stroke, which are the leading causes of death in America. Minorities and those with low Social Economic Status (SES) experience greater complications and more deaths1. High blood pressure was the primary or contributing cause of death for more than 410,000 Americans in 2014; this equates to more than 1,100 deaths each day2.Ā It does not have to be this way.
HIP-Cuyahoga partners with Better Health Partnership to help reduce high blood pressure among Cuyahoga County residents. The information on this page was written by Better Health Partnership.

What are we doing about it?

Hypertension Best Practice

To address many of the challenges a practice may face in treating and managing high blood pressure, Better Health Partnership implemented a Hypertension Best Practice program within our region at diverse clinics covering insured and uninsured patients. We provided more intense practice coaching support to those clinics with the lowest blood pressure control rates. Clinics improved blood pressure control up to 13 percentage points after 1 year, with the greatest improvements seen in low income, minority, and Medicaid populations (See Graphs on slides 16-17 in the Online Toolkit Session #1, and the Better Health websiteĀ data centerĀ for our updated data).
Even though we cannot totally eradicate high blood pressure, we can make sure all patients have the same access to high quality, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive care. Therefore, we developed an online toolkit to disseminate these hypertension best practices.

Hypertension Best Practice Toolkit

For Healthcare Providers

The Hypertension Best Practice toolkit consists of six learning sessions. Each session designed for 50 minutes to fit in a lunch session or before clinic begins. Practice Coach observation and feedback sessions are incorporated after Sessions 2 and 4. We strongly encourage on-the-ground practice coach observation and feedback in addition to the six sessions to optimize results. Sessions are summarized below, with links to any required supplemental materials.

Hypertension Best Practice Toolkit

Hypertension Best Practice Model

Elements of Success

Successful implementation of the Hypertension Best Practice Model requires the following:
1. Support from the executive leadership at the practice.
2. Identify a practice champion to lead the ā€œboots on the groundā€ implementation.
3. A commitment to one hour monthly staff training sessions for 6 months using our Hypertension Best Practice On-Line Toolkit to educate your team.
4. Develop reporting capabilities to abstract electronic health record (EHR) data and report on key measures of the Hypertension Best Practice.
  • Repeat Blood Pressure Reading.
  • Follow up appointment within 30 days if repeat BP is elevated.
  • Percentage of patients in the practice with uncontrolled BP.
5. Share reports with your practice staff and develop goals that are meaningful to your practice.
6. Develop a quality improvement team within the practice and commit to developing and implementing sustainable processes. 7. Celebrate your success along the way!