Improving Hypertension _ Diabetes Control and Prevention
  
An e-NEWSLETTER from Quality Insights                                                                                     August 30, 2017

Undiagnosed Hypertension: It's Time to Learn More

Million Hearts logo The  Million Hearts® national campaign has compiled an online resource library that contains links to a wide variety of articles, case studies, references, and much more related to undiagnosed hypertension. 
 
Take a moment to visit the Undiagnosed Hypertension page on the Million Hearts® website to access these resources to enhance your understanding of prevalence of hypertensive patients 'hiding in plain sight', and the dangers it poses to your patients the longer it goes untreated.
 
million Hearts® Partner Toolkit gives providers resources to raise awareness for UNDIAGNOSED HYPERTENSION 

MH web badge Million Hearts® has made blood pressure (BP) control a critical national priority and has developed clinician and patient resources to help you find patients with hypertension who are hiding in plain sight in your system or practice. 

You can help raise awareness among your colleagues and patients who may be hiding in plain sight. Use the images and messaging included in the Undiagnosed Hypertension Partner Toolkit to share messages on social media, add an announcement to your e-newsletter, or include a badge in your e-signature.
Small Workflow Modifications Can Lead to Big Improvements in Hypertension Management 

Making slight modifications to your current office workflows related to hypertension diagnosis can go a long way towards helping your clinicians uncover patients with hypertension hiding in plain sights. As an active participant in our hypertension and diabetes project, Quality Insights is requesting that your practice implement at least ONE workflow improvement related to hypertension diagnosis from the Hypertension Hiding in Plain Sight Workflow Modifications resource from Quality Insights. 

Quality Insights is available to support your workflow modification efforts - at no cost to your practice - so please email Ashley Biscardi as soon as possible if you need any assistance in implementing any of these workflow modifications and/or training opportunities in your practice.
video highlights the Four Steps to Finding Undiagnosed Hypertensive Patients 

video link New information released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately one-third of Americans with hypertension are unaware of their condition, leaving them without a reason to visit their doctor for medication. Other undiagnosed hypertension cases occur because of a lack of access to health care or health insurance. However, reducing the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension is vital for reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke in the human population.

Diagnosing and treating for hypertension can be difficult because there are essentially no symptoms to be relieved. However, in this short video, Finding Undiagnosed Hypertensive Patients,the CDC describes four steps to identifying hypertensive patients for doctors to follow. 
Start with the steps that make the most sense for your practice or system. 

The most important action to take is beginning the search for these patients. Treating uncontrolled hypertension dramatically reduces patients' risk for heart attack and stroke. Bringing individuals "hiding in plain sight" into clear view will help protect millions from unnecessary and preventable events.
strategies You can implement to advance hypertension control quality improvement in your practice

cardiac icon The Department of Health and Human Services - Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides a detailed overview of the Hypertension Control quality measure and outlines the intended use for this measure. It also highlights the benefits of implementing this measure into your practice's quality improvement (QI) program and includes specific strategies to improve your offices hypertension control measure. Some specific strategies are listed below:
  • Obtain discounts for scales, home BP machines and education programs.
  • Train healthcare team on benefits and importance of patient self-management.
  • Review reports of patients with hypertension that have not had a visit in the past three months. Use a community health worker to re-engage these patients in your practice and their care.
  • Partner with one or two hypertension specialists (include MOU for feedback reports).
  • Promote non-clinical relationships with health club facilities, healthy food organizations, etc.
  • Execute a report of patients with documented BP >140/90, but have not been diagnosed with hypertension. Assign clinician to identify patients that should have an appointment for hypertension based on past BP readings and recall these patients.
  • Include other disciplines as part of the team, for example: pharmacists for medication education and adherence, dieticians for nutritional support, social services to facilitate other physical and environmental needs that may exist.
patient training video demonstrates proper bp measurement techniques 

home bp monitor The American Heart Association released a p atient education video, How To Monitor Your Blood Pressure at Home, that demonstrates the proper techniques for taking BP measurement. It shows the step-by-step process and includes important tips on what someone should and should not do to ensure an accurate home reading. 

Share the video with all patients in your practice diagnosed with hypertension, or consider running the video while patients wait in the exam room for the provider. Educating patients about proper technique can make a big difference in improving hypertension self management.
Download the List of FREE Blood Pressure Screening Locations in Your County 

BP Cuff Quality Insights has compiled a list of free BP screening locations for each of the three counties in Delaware. We encourage you to distribute these lists to your patients to help connect them with these local screening locations so that they continue to monitor their BP levels between office visits. Below please find a link the the lists for each county.
check out the quality insights events calendar to see what's happening in delaware to support hypertension & diabetes improvement  

Pixabay calendar There are a lot of great events planned in the coming month's throughout the First State to advance heart healthy initiatives and diabetes care and management. Find out what's going on and get involved! Check out the Events page on the Quality Insights Hypertension and Diabetes Control & Prevention Project website today. 

Webinar Archive
There is also an archive of educational lunch & learn webinars hosted by Quality Insights posted on this page. Some of the topics covered include: 
  • Medication Adherence: Strategies for Improving Outcomes
  • Measure Up Pressure Down Webinar
  • Medication Adherence
  • Community Health Workers
  • Teaming Up to Reverse the Diabetes Trend in Delaware: Providers & Patients Unite
Please visit our webinar archive (scroll to the bottom of the page) to access the recordings and slide decks from all of these sessions.
contact information

For more details about the Improving Hypertension and Diabetes Care & Prevention project, please contact  Ashley Biscardi, Roxanne Fletcher, or Jennifer Flattery.

Quality Insights logo      
This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP004799-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Publication number DEDPH-HD-083017