CDC launches hypertension control challenge

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched the Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge, which is part of a Department of Health and Human Services effort to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.

The challenge, which runs through Oct. 10, asks clinicians, clinical practices or health systems to share their health IT approaches to improving blood pressure management, as well as their integrating team-based approaches to care and community approaches like improving tobacco control and lowering sodium consumption.

CDC is requesting the following as part of the submission process:

• Submission of two point-in-time measures of the population’s hypertension control rate: one for the previous 12-month period and the other for the previous 12 to 24 months;
• Data on the population's prevalence of hypertension;
• Systems used by the providers to control hypertension in its adult patient population; and
• The size and demographics of its patient population.

Up to 20 providers will be recognized as part of the CDC challenge. A total of $40,000 will be divvied out, according to a Federal Register notice.

This challenge runs parallel to another effort launched earlier this summer by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). This agency is seeking out providers’ most effective evidence-based treatment protocols to guide the selection of effective therapies for blood pressure control.