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NORC at the University Chicago

Promoting a Team-Based Hypertension Control Method

Senior woman checking her blood pressure at home
Determining if the Hypertension Management Program is effective in health care settings
  • Funder
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
  • Dates
    2017 – 2021

Problem

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects half of all adults in the United States and three of every four aged 60 and over. It is a significant risk factor for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.  When new effective hypertension control methods are developed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (DHDSP) is eager to see if they can be scaled and shared with other regions and hospitals. The CDC heard about a promising program developed at Kaiser Permanente Colorado called the Hypertension Management Program (HMP). After conducting a rigorous evaluation of the HMP, CDC wanted to test its effectiveness in other health systems in the U.S.

Solution

NORC evaluated Kaiser Permanente’s hypertension program at two test sites.

We solicited nominations from health centers interested in adopting a new hypertension control program. Out of dozens of candidates, we selected two: a health center in South Carolina and a hospital in Tennessee.

We then introduced the program to each site, helped train their staff, and supported them through the program launch. We clearly explained the potential benefits for the patients, helping ensure buy-in from the staff. We followed up each month to help troubleshoot problems. After about a year, we evaluated the programs to see if they helped control patients’ high blood pressure.

Result

The program delivered statistically significant improvements in hypertension control.

Over a 16-month period at the South Carolina site, the hypertension control rate increased by 3 percentage points, a meaningful increase that translated to 119 individuals who were able to start effectively managing their hypertension. The study also found the program was cost-effective. The CDC concluded that the project demonstrated the program “can be implemented effectively in a [federally qualified health center] and achieve significant improvements in hypertension control rates.” 

NORC developed an online, interactive toolkit to help health systems that want to implement this team-based, patient-centered, integrated care model to better control high blood pressure.

Project Leads

Resources

“We get to work with health care staff and be part of the implementation, and that’s really exciting, especially with projects that address chronic diseases.”

Roy Ahn

Vice President

“We get to work with health care staff and be part of the implementation, and that’s really exciting, especially with projects that address chronic diseases.”

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