Million Hearts® is a national initiative established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and co-led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to promote heart health and reduce heart disease and stroke. Each year, Million Hearts® recognizes health care providers who have used health information technology and other tactics to achieve blood pressure control for at least 70% of their adult patients with hypertension.

PCIP is pleased to share that three NYC REACH members, out of only 24 healthcare professionals, practices and systems nationwide, were named 2017 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champions. The Champions are Dr. Anming Luo, Dr. Charles King Chan, and Dr. Michael Richter. PCIP provided technical assistance and support to these providers as they optimized their workflows and systems to improve blood pressure control rates for their patients.

Dr. Anming Luo is an internist in Sunset Park, Brooklyn serving mostly Chinese patients. Dr. Luo used several new tools to achieve his goals. He provided patient education materials in Chinese during check-in, used dashboards provided by PCIP to track patient progress, created eBO reports, and analyzed reports from payers. As a result of these efforts, Dr. Luo achieved hypertension control in 93% of his adult hypertensive patients.

Dr. Charles King Chan is an internist in lower Manhattan serving mostly non-English speaking Asian immigrants. To improve blood pressure control rates, he implemented a three-step process. Following each hypertension diagnosis, the practice 1) gives the patient a Blood Pressure Tracking Card, 2) uses a validated scale to assess medication adherence, and 3) sends an outreach letter followed by a phone call to check-in on patients between visits. Dr. Chan achieved hypertension control in 83% of his adult hypertensive patients.

Dr. Michael Richter operates a small family practice in Rego Park, Queens, and serves mostly elderly patients. Dr. Richer focused on spending more time discussing hypertension with his patients. At each visit, he reviews patients’ salt intake and diet, discusses medication adherence, and educates patients about hypertension. He also uses a two blood pressure reading method to minimize incorrect readings, and educates staff and patients on how to address any discrepancies between readings. Dr. Richter consistently achieves hypertension control in over 70% of his adult patients.

Awardees were recognized at the NYC REACH Learning Collaborative in February, 2018. Chien Ting Chen received the award on behalf of Dr. Luo, who was unable to attend. Learn more about Million Hearts here.

From left to right: Sarah Shih, MPH, Assistant Commissioner, PCIP; Sonia Angell, MD, MPH, Deputy Commissioner for Prevention and Primary Care; Hang Pham-Singer, PharmD, Senior Director of Quality Improvement, PCIP; Chien Ting Chen, MD, MPH Clinical Quality Specialist, PCIP; Charles King Chan, MD; Michael Richter, MD; Vitaliy Shtutin, Senior Clinical Quality Manager, PCIP; Dorothy Chan, Clinical Quality Manager, PCIP