Abstract Body: Target: BP™ is a national initiative created by the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association in 2017 in response to the high prevalence of uncontrolled blood pressure (BP). Committed to advancing health equity, Target: BP supports health care organizations to improve blood pressure control by leveraging AHA guidelines and scientific statements and the AMA MAP^™ framework; assists health care organizations in their journeys to improve and sustain BP control with professional education and resources; and recognizes health care organizations annually with achievement awards.
Target: BP recognizes organizations that commit to improvement, adopt evidence-based BP activities, and achieve BP control rates ≥70 percent, currently defined as SBP<140 and DBP<90 mmHg in CMS Controlling High Blood Pressure #236. Evidence-based BP activities include 1) calibrating BP measurement devices, 2) checking to see if devices are validated, 3) training and, 4) testing care team members in BP measurement every 6-12 months, 5) using a protocol to measure and confirm BP measurements, and 6) posting a positioning graphic (job aid) next to every place where BP is measured.
Since adding evidence-based activity award criteria, self-attested achievement levels have improved from 2021 to 2023 for device calibration from 47.9% to 65.3%, for team training from 67.6% to 85.5%, for team testing from 67.0% to 86.2%, for measurement protocol use from 83.3% to 94.4%, and for job-aid posting from 54.8% to 69.6%. For each activity, Target: BP provides no-cost education and resources to help achieve the criteria. Overall participation has grown from 330 to 1806 organizations since 2017, now caring for 8.6 million patients with hypertension. In 2023, 866 organizations reported BP control rates ≥70 percent and 1489 reported the adoption of ≥4 of 6 evidence-based BP activities.
Future expansion of the evidenced-based activity criteria will address treatment intensification, lifestyle risk factors, self-measured blood pressure monitoring, and equitable health outcomes. In a 2023 survey of participating organizations, 85.2% of 230 respondents reported “improving patient outcomes” as their primary reason for participating in Target: BP. Among respondents, 95.7% agree or strongly agree that expanded criteria will help to focus QI priorities.
Award incentives appear to play a positive role in encouraging organizations to adopt evidence-based practices and improve blood pressure control.