This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Collaborative quality measures improve hypertension scores

Partaking in a quality improvement collaborative consisting of consultations with health experts, webinars and links to resources led to better hypertension scores among participants, according to findings recently published in Preventing Chronic Disease.

“The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a quality improvement collaborative on hypertension control rates among nine managed care plans whose performance at baseline was below the Million Hearts target,” Desiree R. Backman, DrPh, MS, RD, California Department of Health Care Services, and colleagues wrote.

According to the researchers, about one-third of the U.S. adult population has hypertension, and only 52% of those have the condition under control.

Researchers followed participants from nine different managed care plans and 10 nonparticipating managed care plans that participated in the quality improvement program. At baseline, these participants had a diastolic BP of 90 mm Hg or more and systolic BP of 140 mm Hg or more, determined by the average of no more than three measurements.

Throughout 2015, the California Department of Health Care Services held quarterly, 90-minute webinars with local, state, and national leaders who distributed evidence-based tools and resources and shared best practices for hypertension control with the study’s participants.

Backman and colleagues found that controlled hypertension rates went up an average of 5 percentage points among the managed care plans. In addition, representatives from nine of the 10 nonparticipating managed care plans showed improved hypertension control in the intervention period from baseline. The most significant improvement was 14.6 percentage points, indicating a nearly 34% improvement in hypertension control.

“This improvement was notable because all plans had a multiyear history of declining hypertension control rates before the intervention,” researchers wrote. “These findings show that there was not a general, secular trend of hypertension control improvement among [managed care plans].”

The researchers suggested future research to create maintainable business models, look into the program’s long-term effects, and find ways to ensure triumph over possible cultural resistance to such quality improvement collaboratives. – by Janel Miller

Disclosure: Healio Family Medicine was unable to determine researchers’ relevant disclosures prior to publication.