School of Public Health’s OHSR aids Roane County clinic in becoming 2014 Million Hearts® Champion

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Roane County Family Health Care clinic in Spencer, W.Va., was recently named a 2014 Million Hearts® Champion, in part due to the efforts of the West Virginia University School of Public Health’s Office of Health Services Research (OHSR).

The Office of Health Services Research provided the analytics support needed to use the electronic health records data at Roane County Family Health Care to better identify patients with high blood pressure and use those data to inform lifestyle and behavior changes to support blood pressure control in the community.  

Using evidence-based strategies, like Roane County used to achieve high rates of blood pressure control for their patients, 30 public and private healthcare practices and systems across the country became Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2014 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Champions.  
 
“We couldn’t have made the list without the efforts of WVU’s Office of Health Services Research,” Emma White, director of nursing and quality improvement at Roane County Health Care, said.  

“The clinic did all the hard work, but we contributed in making it possible for them to report their results,” Cecil Pollard, director of the WVU Office for Health Services Research, said.  

The CDC reports that these healthcare providers, practices, and systems achieved blood pressure control for at least 70 percent of their patients through innovations in health information technology and electronic health records, patient communication, and healthcare team approaches.

Also, according to the CDC, this year’s Champions cared for more than 3.5 million adults and represented a range of small and large, urban and rural, and private and federal health practices and systems across 19 states.

“Million Hearts launched this challenge in 2012 to recognize clinicians and healthcare teams across the country for helping their patients protect heart health,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., said. “We implore other health systems to follow the lead of these physicians and clinics, which are succeeding in saving lives and preventing disability from avoidable heart disease and stroke.”

The CDC co-leads the Million Hearts initiative with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CDC developed the Hypertension Control Challenge as part of its longstanding efforts to identify prevention strategies that help patients achieve blood pressure control.

Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. It brings together communities, health systems, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, and private-sector partners from across the country to fight heart disease and stroke. For more information about the initiative and to access resources, visit http://millionhearts.hhs.gov.