New guidelines for preventing, detecting, and managing hypertension were released in November 2017.
Subject matter expert and fall convening speaker Mike Rakotz, MD of the American Medical Association joined us for a presentation on the upshot of the new guidelines and a discussion forum about this new direction in hypertension care.
Who Should watch this Webinar?
Anyone who’s interested in understanding the implications of the new hypertension guidelines on their care of patients with hypertension. This webinar, geared towards clinicians and QI leads, will cover practical considerations for applying the new guidelines in your care.
Our Big Takeaways
- While the new guidelines create new categories of BP in adults, nonpharmacologic therapy, namely lifestyle changes, remains the recommended treatment for patients with elevated BP (SBP 120-129/ DBP < 80). It also applies to low- risk patients with Stage 1 hypertension (SBP 130-139/ DBP 80-89 and a 10- year ASCVD risk <10%), except when there are specific comorbidities (CKD, DM) , clinical CVD, or a 10-year ASCVD risk > 10%.
- Because treatment nonadherence is a major contributor to poor hypertension control, it’s important to use objective methods (e.g., pill counts, medication refill data) to assess adherence, along with patient self-reporting.
- There is a variety of supportive strategies to help improve BP control, including team-based care, Health Information Technology-based strategies, use of performance measures, and quality improvement strategies.
About the Speaker
Michael Rakotz, MD FAHA FAAFP
VP of Improving Health Outcomes, American Medical Association
Dr. Rakotz currently serves as Vice President of Improving Health Outcomes at the American Medical Association, where he oversees efforts to develop and implement national quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving blood pressure control and preventing type 2 diabetes. He is the AMA’s clinical lead of Target: BP, a nationwide, multi-year collaboration with the American Heart Association to reduce uncontrolled hypertension.
A practicing family physician for more than 20 years, Dr. Rakotz recently served as the Director of Population Health and Virtual Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group in Chicago. His office was one of 30 designated as a Million Hearts Hypertension Control Champion.
Dr. Rakotz also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and as a Fellow for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
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