Million Hearts™ Recognizes 2012 Hypertension Control Champions

The 2012 Million Hearts™ Hypertension Control Champions—Kaiser Permanente Colorado and the Ellsworth Medical Clinic (Wisconsin)—have each achieved blood pressure control rates greater than 80 percent among their patients with high blood pressure.

Since January 2008, Kaiser Permanente Colorado?s focus on managing hypertension has resulted in an improvement from an initial member control rate of 61 percent to its current control rate of 82.6 percent.

Between 2007 and 2011 the Ellsworth Medical Clinic in western Wisconsin improved blood pressure control among patients with cardiovascular disease from 68 percent to 97 percent. As of August 2012, the practice had achieved a 90 percent control rate for all patients with hypertension.

Both champions achieved their success by incorporating sustainable changes into their daily practices:

• Maximizing use of electronic medical records that allow providers to track patient care over time, and incorporate prompts and reminders to improve care.
• Integrating team based care that makes full use of the skills of the team members to identify and treat patients with high blood pressure, provide patient support and follow-up care, and help patients manage their medicines and stick to a blood pressure control plan.
• Reinforcing the importance of behaviors that affect blood pressure—eating a healthy, low sodium diet, being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking.

Million Hearts™ is committed to scaling and spreading the lessons learned by health systems and practices that help people get their blood pressure under control. Please visit the following websites to learn more about effective hypertension control efforts of these champions and others: http://www.cdc.gov/stltpublichealth/townhall/2012/09/vitalsigns.html and http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=3222.

Livestream of Kaiser Permanente Colorado's Hypertension Control Champion Recognition Ceremony: http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressreleases/nat/2012/091712_hypertension_control_champion.html.