Authors: Alison Smith, Ashley Wagner, Andrew Mills, Gary Harmon, Eduardo Sanchez
Published: 2025-04-17
DOI: 10.1161/cir.151.suppl_1.p3078
Source: Full article
Sustainability, the continuation of a new program, is an ongoing challenge and a barrier to “sustaining” success. The American Heart Association (AHA) has completed the National Hypertension Control Initiative (NHCI), a 3-year demonstration project jointly funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) to improve blood pressure (BP) control in 350 low-performing HRSA-funded community health centers (CHCs) with about 1.5 million persons with hypertension (HTN). Implementation strategies to improve BP control included accurate BP measurement, team-based care, standardized treatment protocols, culturally and linguistically appropriate services, and use of self-measured BP (SMBP) monitoring. Sustainability strategies for NHCI include the standardization and protocolization of care processes; adoption of data-informed performance improvement; and continuation and reinforcement of BP control efforts through Target: BP™, a BP control initiative jointly developed and delivered by AHA and the American Medical Association, serving about 9 million persons with HTN.