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HHS Announces 2012 Hypertension Control Champions
One year ago, the Department of Health and Human Services, with several key partners, launched the Million Hearts™ national public-private initiative. Million Hearts aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over five years through behavioral changes and clinical interventions. One of the most significant contributing factors to cardiovascular disease is hypertension, or high blood pressure. According to the CDC, nearly one in three American adults (67 million) has high blood pressure, and more than half (36 million) don’t have it under control. Additionally, high blood pressure contributes to nearly 1,000 deaths per day and accounts for nearly $131 billion in direct health care costs a year.
Today, the U.S. DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recognized two health care providers in the United States as 2012 Hypertension Control Champions: Ellsworth (Wis.) Medical Clinic and Kaiser Permanente’s Colorado region. The designation signifies these two health care providers have had remarkable success controlling hypertension across their patient populations, supported by verifiable data documenting the improvement. Watch a video of the announcement here.
Since 2008, Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s focus on managing hypertension has resulted in an improvement from an initial member control rate of 61 percent to its current control rate of 82.6 percent. The average hypertension control rate nationally is around 50 percent.
According to their press release, Kaiser Permanente’s hypertension control strategy has five central components:
- Registries: Through data housed within the Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect® electronic medical record, registries are created to identify members with hypertension.
- Actionable lists: Kaiser Permanente staff then draft lists to help identify which members did not have their blood pressure under control.
- Patient outreach: To reach those newly identified members, Kaiser Permanente nurses and other care team representatives work collaboratively to contact members and encourage them to come into local medical offices for blood pressure checks at least once a year.
- Managing blood pressure in the office: Kaiser Permanente primary care teams and clinical pharmacy staff develop long-term medication management programs for members with hypertension.
- Eliminating barriers: Members with hypertension are able to receive free blood pressure checks on a walk-in or appointment basis.
In September 2011, shortly after Million Hearts officially launched, Janet Wright, MD, executive director of Million Hearts, joined several other leaders in the heart health space at the Center for Total Health in Washington, D.C., for a summit to address hypertension. You can see our coverage of that event at these links.
Weight of the Nation: Premieres Tonight (Plus a Few Minutes with Preston Maring, MD)
It’s finally here: Tonight, The Weight of the Nation premieres on HBO. Parts one and two air tonight, with parts three and four debuting tomorrow night. HBO has made the broadcast of The Weight of the Nation available for free to cable broadcasters. Check your local listings to see if it is carried in your area. The films also will be available at hbo.com, where they will be online at 8 pm ET. They’ll be on HBO’s YouTube channel, as well.
The documentary series on America’s obesity crisis is produced in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Medicine, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente.
See the trailer for The Weight of the Nation below. And after that, check out our recent conversation with Preston Maring, MD – the founder of Kaiser Permanente’s farmers markets. We caught up with Dr. Maring, who is featured in part four of the HBO series, after the screening of the documentary in Washington, D.C.
A Few Minutes with IOM’s Harvey Fineberg at DC Screening of Weight of the Nation
Last week, 600 people attended the Washington, D.C., screening of The Weight of the Nation, HBO’s documentary on America’s obesity crisis produced in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Medicine, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente. After opening remarks from the producers and partners, the crowd viewed part one in the series, called Consequences. The first part of the four-part series presents an alarming overview of our nation’s weight crisis, where one-third of adults and 17 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are obese.
Being overweight or obese carries increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke, osteoarthritis, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, cancer, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Overall quality of life can be negatively affected as well.
While on hand to live tweet the event, the Center for Total Health blog had a brief conversation with Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine. Harvey spoke about the unique partnership that brought about this documentary, as well as his hope that people who view this series (premiering May 14-15 on HBO) will take what they learn, request screening kits and discussion guides, and get engaged where they live and work to make changes and reverse this epidemic.
Visit here for more information about the documentary. For resources on how to bring healthy changes to your family, community and workplace, visit the Kaiser Permanente Weight of the Nation site. Read more coverage of Weight of the Nation screenings and outreach here.
HBO Documentary Weight of the Nation Previews in Colorado
Launching one of the nation’s largest public health campaigns on obesity to date, HBO has joined with the Institute of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to produce a series of documentaries called The Weight of the Nation. The series – whose TEDMED trailer screening earlier this month set Twitter abuzz – examines the obesity epidemic from every angle: agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, food marketing, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity, American food culture and the power of industry.
On Monday, April 16, HBO and Kaiser Permanente Colorado hosted a screening of part four of the series, “Challenges,” on the University of Denver campus. The screening is the first of more than 20 that Kaiser Permanente will host nationwide.
While Colorado is one of the fittest states for adults, it is facing one of the fastest growing childhood obesity rates in the country. For that reason, the event began with a health expo focused on healthy eating and active living, and the screening was followed by a town-hall panel discussion with local experts and Q&A with the audience. Below is a brief highlight reel of the evening’s activities.
The town hall discussion was also available to folks at home through Livestreaming. Watch the full presentation at http://new.livestream.com/cdphepsd/weightofco/. You can also read more and see photos from the event here.
The Weight of the Nation series debuts on May 14, exclusively on HBO. Further information on the series, the soon-to-be-published book of the same name by St. Martin’s Press, and the nationwide community-based outreach campaign can be found at theweightofthenation.hbo.com.
What is Total Health?
One of the most interesting aspects of creating the interactive exhibits at the Center for Total Health was interviewing people about their attitudes and feelings about health. The one question we asked each and every person was this: What does total health mean to you? We think it’s fitting to kick off this blog by sharing video clips of a few of the answers we received.
In these three videos, we hear from a trio of health experts: Bill Dietz, MD, PhD, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Mike McGinnis, MD, MPP, with the Institute of Medicine; and Karen Boudreau, MD, FAAFP, with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
How do you define total health?
This blog is intended to be a place for robust dialogue on health-related issues. Statements on this site do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Kaiser Permanente. All content is copyrighted.
