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Measure Accurately, Act Rapidly, and Partner With Patients (MAP) is an evidence‐based protocol implemented to improve hypertension control in a clinic for underserved patients (49.9% Medicaid and 50.2% black). Patients with hypertension seen during the year before intervention and with at least one visit during the 6‐month intervention (N = 714) were included. If initial attended blood pressure (BP; standard aneroid manometer) was ≥140/≥90 mm Hg, unattended automated office BP was measured in triplicate and averaged (Measure Accurately) using an Omron HEM‐907XL. When automated office BP was ≥140/≥90 mm Hg, Act Rapidly included intensification of antihypertensive medications, assessed by therapeutic inertia. Partner With Patients included BP self‐monitoring, reducing pill burden, and minimizing medication costs, which was assessed by systolic BP change per therapeutic intensification. Between baseline and the last study visit, BP control to <140/<90 mm Hg increased from 61.2% to 89.9% (P < .0001). MAP rapidly and significantly improved hypertension control in medically underserved patients, largely as a result of measuring BP accurately and partnering with patients.

Objective: Evaluate a multifaceted quality improvement program with evidenced-based interventions for Measuring blood pressure (BP, mm Hg) accurately, Acting rapidly to manage uncontrolled BP, and Partnering with patients to promote BP self-management (MAP) in primary care. Methods: Study design : Quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention, design. BP control and BPs of uncontrolled patients were compared at baseline, February 2015[A1] to May 2016, at the last visit of the next 6 months.. Measure accurately included training staff in BP measurement. If attended BP was ≥140/90, unattended, automated office (AO) BP was obtained. Act rapidly included intensification of BP meds when unattended AOBP was ≥140/90 assessed by percent of visits with uncontrolled BP and no treatment change (therapeutic inertia). Partner with patients including BP self-monitoring and using low-priced generic BP meds assessed indirectly by the fall in systolic BP (SBP) per therapeutic intensification. Population Studied: Hypertensive patients (21,035) from 16 practices who had a visit during the baseline period and either no visit (4,691) or at least one visit (16,344) during the program. Results: BP control rose from 65.6% (13,790 of 21,035) to 74.8% (12,234 of 16,344) (p<.001); 12 of 16 practices had significant increases in BP control. In uncontrolled patients at baseline, mean SBP/DBP fell from 149/85 to 139/80 (p<.001/p<.001). Measure accurately lowered SBP 12.8 mm Hg (p<.001) in uncontrolled patients with better technique in attended BP reducing SBP ≥6.5 mm Hg per practice; while unattended AOBP lowered SBP 8.6 mm Hg (p<.001). Therapeutic inertia was unchanged (50.2% vs. 48.4%; p=.10); the mean fall in SBP per therapeutic change increased from 5.4 to 14.0 mm Hg (p<.001). Conclusions: MAP was associated with significant improvement in hypertension control in primary care during a six-month period. The decrease in SBP and improved control were largely explained by Measure accurately and Partner with patients as therapeutic inertia (Act rapidly) did not change. Evidence-based strategies in MAP provide opportunities for primary care practices to quickly improve hypertension control toward the national goals of 80%, and importantly to reduce cardiovascular risk.

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