Collaboration leads to improved blood pressure control in East Los Angeles

Thousands of East Los Angeles residents have better opportunities to manage their blood pressure, thanks to a collaboration between Via Care Health Center, the National Hypertension Control Initiative and the American Heart Association.

An estimated 21% of Via Care’s nearly 12,500 adult patients have high blood pressure and its hypertension control rate was at 63%. After getting trained by the Association in accurate hypertension measurement, diagnosis and treatment and implementing a self-measured blood pressure program, the health center's hypertension control rate improved by 20 points to 83%.

"Establishing the hypertension clinic has made a monumental impact on our patients’ health," said Jeniffer Tang, Clinical Pharmacist, Via Care Health Center. "The services from the clinic helped the patients understand the importance of having their blood pressure within goal and taking the medications correctly and routinely. This self-monitoring program has the patients feeling more empowered to take charge of their health."

As part of the collaboration, patients are referred to the self-measured blood pressure program if they have uncontrolled hypertension, have started a new hypertension medication, or have related chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.

A medical assistant follows up with the patient over the phone to share program details and schedule their enrollment appointment.

At the appointment, the patient is enrolled and provided a complimentary blood pressure device for at-home self-monitoring, along with health education resources in Spanish and English.

During follow-up visits, the patient’s self-measured blood pressure readings recorded at home are documented in the clinic’s electronic health records for the physician to review and assess changes in treatment.

Via Care has enrolled 215 patients into program and plans to expand the program to more than 900 patients.