This post is written by JoAnne M. Foody, MD, FACC, editor of CardioSmart.org and medical director of the Cardiovascular Wellness Center and Pollin Cardiovascular Wellness Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

We've come a long way with prevention and treatment of heart disease in women, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Women continue to be misdiagnosed, underrepresented in research and less likely to perceive heart disease as their number-one health threat, despite the fact that more women than men die each year from cardiovascular disease.  American Heart Month highlights the need to eliminate these disparities, and this month there are plenty of opportunities to get involved and support these efforts.

A Twitter Chat held Feb. 1 by CardioSmart, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and Centric TV, a part of BET Networks, was successful with over almost 28 million impressions over the course of the week and more than 500 people participants. If you missed it you can view the archived chat here.

As ACC President William Zoghbi, MD, FACC, shared in a previous blog post, last week’s Women’s Cardiovascular Health Symposium and The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show were also a huge success. It was truly an honor to moderate the amazing symposium panel of cardiovascular and health care leaders, including the US Surgeon General. Last week’s 7th Annual Heart of Women’s Health conference was also an exciting opportunity to enhance knowledge and ultimately increase competency in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in women. Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, FACC, and I jointly led the sold out conference, where, along with last year's winner, Michelle Albert, MD, MPH, we had the privilege of presenting the 2013 Heart of Women's Health credo Award to Leslee Shaw, PhD, FACC, for her outstanding contributions to the field of heart disease in women.

Yesterday the first-ever National Heart Health Awareness Day took place. CardioSmart partnered with Diet Coke to conduct free heart risk screenings and educational awareness at major national health care institutions and academic medical centers.

Heart Month to me is always a reminder of why the College has invested in CardioSmart. Through partnerships with consumer groups, other medical specialty societies and public and private health care initiatives, CardioSmart is our door to our patients. It’s about raising awareness of heart disease, providing education on heart healthy choices, and building that physician/patient relationship. Together we can save lives.

P.S. Check out my video on what motivates me to stay heart healthy. Enjoy!

American Heart Month is well on its way and the past few days have been a true testament of how through partnerships and combined efforts, messaging about awareness of heart disease can reach the masses.

Leaders from the ACC were in New York City for Fashion Week to attend and support The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2013 fashion show. Through a public-private partnership, the College and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) joined together to support women's heart health through the fashion show. It was a tremendous success and before the show, the ACC hosted a first-ever Women’s Cardiovascular Health Symposium featuring US Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA; NHLBI Director Gary Gibbons, MD; Million Hearts Executive Director Janet Wright, MD, FACC; Brigham's and Women Health Care President Elizabeth Nabel, MD, FACC and other ACC and cardiovascular health leaders.

It was a town hall-style symposium with great conversation, and focused on ways health care providers, patients and consumer groups can work together to support the goal of reducing heart disease among women and collectively advance the fight against heart disease. In addition, Dr. Nabel, the former head of NHLBI, provided an intriguing glimpse into the decade-long history of the Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, which is a partnership between fashion leaders—including top designers, models, and celebrities — who have demonstrated their support for the issue of women and heart disease by participating in The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collections at New York’s Fashion Week annually since 2002. She also noted the history of the campaign and how every woman can relate to a red dress, making it a powerful symbol in the fight against this deadly disease. The red dress has come to serve as a red alert to convey the message that “Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear—It's the #1 Killer of Women.” In addition, Dr. Nabel commended the NHLBI’s partners and stressed how partnering with Diet Coke and now the ACC has enabled the campaign to reach millions of patients and elevate awareness of heart disease as the nation's leading killer.

Immediately following the symposium, the Red Dress Fashion Show began and included several big-name celebrities, which was exciting to be a part of and watch. New this year was the first non-celebrity, Cindy Parsons, who received a standing ovation, and was a participant in the "Follow the Fifty" campaign, a Heart Truth community grant program. Be sure to check out photos from the show here and you can also watch a video of the fashion show via CardioSmart’s Facebook page.

Aside from the excitement of the Red Dress Fashion Show, this week another great accomplishment took place on CardioSmart, ACC’s patient portal. I’m excited to announce that CardioSmart.org rolled out its revamped collection of digital tools and resources designed to help individuals prevent, treat, and manage cardiovascular disease. The updated new site includes more than 30 robust cardiovascular condition centers, available in English and Spanish, that guide patients through each stage of their journey including causes, symptoms, and treatments. Users can personalize their page by identifying topic areas of interest and by saving noteworthy news or questions to ask their doctor to their dashboard. CardioSmart.org tools such as Find a Drug, Preparing for Your Next Appointment and Ask an Expert enhance the patient-provider relationship. Users can set goals with their care team and track progress using our weight, waist, blood pressure, and activity trackers and our heart risk, BMI and cholesterol calculators. Users can also connect with peers on our online communities, take heart healthy challenges, earn CardioSmart points and spend them in our CardioSmart Store.  I encourage you to look around the new site, and let us know what you think! Congrats to the teams who have worked tirelessly over the past year to make CardioSmart even more beneficial to our patients.

What an exciting time for the ACC! I never thought attending New York Fashion Week would be an activity I’d do as ACC’s President (in addition to carrying the Olympic torch), but it goes to show to always expect the unexpected. I’m thrilled to have been a part of it and am excited for the future!

Photo Captions:
Top: ACC Board of Trustees Member Mary Walsh, MD, FACC, myself, and CardioSmart Chief Medical Expert JoAnne M. Foody, MD, FACC before the first-ever Women’s Cardiovascular Health Symposium.
Middle: Million Hearts Executive Director Janet Wright, MD, FACC, my daughter Roula, and myself ready for the start of the Red Dress Fashion Show.
Bottom:  Cardiovascular experts spoke during the ACC Women's Cardiovascular Health Symposium ahead of the fashion show.

This post was authored by Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH, FACC, chair of ACC’s Prevention Committee.

Cardiovascular disease prevention is central to the mission of the ACC, and many entities within the College, including the ACC’s Prevention Committee, have contributed to this important mission through advocacy, education, and patient-centered care initiatives. However, previous coordination between these efforts was limited, and in May 2012, the Prevention Committee was challenged by the ACC’s Clinical Quality Committee (CQC) to rethink its role and mission within the College. Through tireless ACC staff efforts and discussions with multiple internal and external stakeholders, a new committee charter was developed and subsequently approved by both the CQC and the ACC Executive Committee.

Key goals of the ACC Prevention Committee include:

• Act as a liaison to – and a voice for – preventive cardiovascular specialist members within and on behalf of the College
• Mentor Fellows in Training, early career members, and CCA members interested in prevention
• Serve as ACC’s “access point” for collaborations with other societies and government entities on projects related to prevention including but not limited to:
  • Assuming coordination of the ACC’s partnership with the Million Hearts Initiative
  • Coordinating the dissemination of the upcoming prevention guidelines within the College with the College's representative to the National Institutes of Health-led National Program to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk
    
  • Maintain communications and collaborations with key professional societies active in the field of prevention (e.g. American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Society of Hematology, and more)
• Provide input on ACC guidelines and performance measures relating to cardiovascular disease prevention, as appropriate
• Serve as a resource to the Advocacy department and other entities within the College
• Serve as a resource to address disparities in cardiovascular risk factor incidence, prevalence, awareness and treatment
• Serve as a resource to CardioSmart.org for patient-centered initiatives
• Support dedicated resources for prevention specialists, including but not limited to, access to guidelines, point of care reference tools, and quality improvement tools
• Create specific practical and clinical programming and content geared towards cardiovascular disease prevention at the ACC’s Annual Scientific Session and at Chapter meetings, as appropriate
• Work toward recognition as a Council within the ACC

The ACC Prevention Committee will only be successful in fulfilling its goals with the help and input from a wide cross-section of ACC physician and non-physician members, including those who are still in training. For those interested in or focused on preventive cardiology, please let us know who you are and consider volunteering to participate in projects coordinated by the committee. Let us know what gaps need to be addressed and how the committee can assist you in prevention efforts, be it in your own practice and community or at the chapter or national level. We welcome suggestions for educational programming and development of toolkits to facilitate implementation of prevention into daily practice. Let us know what you would like to see on CardioSource.org and collaborate with your patients to develop new ideas for CardioSmart. Help us develop relationships with prevention-focused organizations to facilitate joint prevention initiatives. Please direct all questions, comments and ideas, to Eva Grace, ACC Prevention Committee staff, at egrace@acc.org.

Check out the new CardioSmart Community on CardioSource and stay up-to-date on the latest CardioSmart features that can improve your practice.

February is American Heart Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness of the leading cause of death in the U.S. Since working to combat cardiovascular disease is at the core of the ACC’s mission, this year the ACC is taking part in several Heart Month activities and initiatives with its members, partners and the cardiovascular community at large.

Kicking-off American Heart Month today, CardioSmart and The Heart Truth have teamed up with Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, and Centric TV, a part of Black Entertainment Television Networks, for a special Heart Month Twitter chat today from 1 –2 p.m. ET. During the chat, CardioSmart Chief Medical Expert JoAnne Foody, MD, FACC, and other experts will discuss heart disease health disparities, prevention, how patients can talk to their doctors about heart disease, and how to stay motivated in making and sustaining healthy lifestyle changes. To participate, follow @CardioSmart and use the hashtag #myheartchat. Also, check out a photo of ACC staff showing their support for National Wear Red Day® on ACC’s Facebook page.

Another exciting activity taking place next week is The Heart Truth® Red Dress CollectionSM 2013 Fashion Show on Feb. 6 as part of Fashion Week in New York City. Through a public-private partnership, the ACC and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) have joined together to support women's heart health through the fashion show. The Heart Truth is a national campaign for women about heart disease created by the NHLBI, part of the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Heart Truth created and introduced The Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002, and The Red Dress® reminds women of the need to protect their heart health and inspires them to take action to lower their risk for heart disease.

Also on Feb. 6 the ACC will host a pre-show symposium before the Red Dress Collection Fashion Show moderated by ACC Board of Trustees Member Mary Walsh, MD, FACC, and CardioSmart Chief Medical Expert JoAnne Foody, MD, FACC. Invited speakers will discuss how their personal and/or organizational activities support the mission of The Heart Truth Campaign and how, collectively, we should advance the fight against heart disease. Be sure to check out coverage from throughout the day on CardioSmart.org/HeartTruth.aspx or via the CardioSmart Facebook page.

Continuing with Heart Month activities, the Seventh Annual Heart of Women’s Health Symposium will be held Feb. 8-9. This two-day educational program is designed to help health care professionals provide better treatment for their female patients in the ongoing battle against heart disease, the number one cause of death and disability among American women.

Plus, this year for the first time ever, on ACC will host CardioSmart Heart Health Awareness Day. Held Feb. 14, CardioSmart will partner with hospitals nationwide to provide free heart health screenings and educational materials to the public. In addition, screenings will be held at the U.S. House on Feb. 7, and Senate on Feb. 14, in partnership with Sister to Sister.

Finally, below you can view the first of a video vignette series with the theme “What Motivates You to Stay Heart Healthy?” My fellow female ACC colleagues will be featured in the coming weeks here on the blog, and you can get to know a little more about what they do in their free time. I hope you enjoy!

Cheers to a successful American Heart Month and I urge you to join the national heart health awareness movement that is being embraced by millions who share the common goal of better heart health for all women!

The good news is between 1999 and 2009, the rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease fell 32.7 percent. Unfortunately, cardiovascular disease still accounted for nearly one in three deaths in the U.S., and the sobering statistics continue.  According to the American Heart Association’s “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update 2013,” published Dec. 12 in Circulation, cardiovascular health may only improve by six percent if current trends remain.

The report notes that the biggest barriers to improvement are projected increases in obesity and diabetes, and only modest improvements in diet and physical activity. However, smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure rates are projected to decline.

Additional statistics include:

• More adults age 20 and over are obese (34.6 percent) than normal or underweight (31.8 percent); 68.2 percent are overweight or obese.
• Among children ages 2-19, 31.8 percent are overweight or obese.
• Thirty-two percent of adults report no aerobic activity; 17.7 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys, grades 9-12, report fewer than an hour of aerobic activity in the past week.
• 13.8 percent of adults have total cholesterol of 240 mg/dL or higher.
•  Thirty-three percent of adults have high blood pressure; African-Americans have among the highest prevalence of high blood pressure (44 percent) worldwide.
•  8.3 percent of adults have diagnosed diabetes, and 8.2 percent have undiagnosed diabetes; 38.2 percent have prediabetes.

Working to improving these statistics is the root of the College’s mission: to transform cardiovascular disease and improve heart health. The College has partnered with national initiatives like the Million Hearts Campaign, which is jointly managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has a goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes the by the year 2017.

In addition, the ACC’s CardioSmart initiative plays an important role in educating consumers about how to partner more effectively with their provider to improve heart health. CardioSmart has a number of tools available to help curb these statistics, including a smoking cessation text message program, a text message program to prevent cardiovascular disease, mobile Apps to help patients remember to take their medications, and much more.

However it is also important to keep in mind that these problems go well beyond the U.S., and the College has been working with other health organizations to put non communicable diseases (NCDs) as a top priority. Our recent efforts have paid off and have led to the adoption of targets to stem preventable death from cardiovascular disease (read more in a previous blog post here).

By working together, and with more education, awareness, preventative measures and efforts, we are one step closer to changing the statistics and improving the care of our patients.

Last weekend I had the privilege of kicking off the first of a series of community events targeted at the nation’s minority and underserved communities in my hometown of Houston, TX.  The program, called Spirit of the Heart is a partnership between the Association of Black Cardiologist (ABC) and ACC’s CardioSmart initiative and aims to increase awareness of heart disease and promote better heart health, particularly in high-risk communities.

The program began with a community leader’s forum on Friday evening, where ABC President, Ola Akinboboye, MD, MPH, MBA, FACC, and I presented opening remarks. After the dinner and entertainment, I sat on a panel discussion alongside Keith Ferdinand, MD, FACC, and other ABC leaders and community partners including Darrell Green, former Washington Redskins cornerback and founder and CEO of WalkFitHealth.  The discussion, moderated by Ryan Neal, MD, was both informative and educational and we heard from advocates of health, exercise and nutrition on how to better manage care.

Dr. Ferdinand gave a presentation on reducing cardiovascular disease risk in diverse populations, and mentioned his work on the executive committee of ACC’s Coalition to Reduce Disparities in Cardiovascular Outcomes (credo) initiative, which provides healthcare providers who treat or prevent cardiovascular disease with the tools to assure optimal care for their diverse patients. He also touched on how CardioSmart and its resources, including our text message platforms, mobile Apps, and more, can help educate patients and their families about healthy lifestyle choices as well as care options.

The audience was full of ACC and ABC’s partners in the community, and during the Q & A portion of the evening, they asked a lot of important questions, especially about personalized care and how we as leaders encourage our patients to live healthier lifestyles.  

In response, along with emphasizing patient-centered care, a style of care that is based on strong physician-patient relationships, I also explained how in the end, medicine is about a healing connection between human beings. We need to re-establish the idea of medicine as an art as well as a science, and restore the physician-patient relationship; patient-centered care is the right thing to do, both in principle and in practice.

The next day ACC and ABC conducted free day-long health screenings for area residents. ACC also gave out practical health information to the community. I heard from ACC staff that there was a great turnout for the screenings and the CardioSmart presence was strong and effective. This type of grassroots outreach in underserved communities is exactly what we are trying to do with CardioSmart: to get together with patients and the public to make a difference in their heart health.

The program concluded on Sunday with ACC and ABC representatives visiting local churches and presenting ABC's 7 Steps to a Healthy Heart:

1. Be Spiritually Active
2. Take Charge of Your Blood Pressure
3. Control Your Cholesterol
4. Track Your Blood Sugar and Maintain Ideal Weight
5. Enjoy Regular Exercise, Follow a Sensible Diet and Get a Good Night's Sleep
6. Don't Smoke
7. Access Better Healthcare, Get a Check Up and Faithfully Take Your Medication

This program will be replicated in Dallas, TX from Oct 5 – 7; Austin, TX from Oct. 12 – 14; Harlem, NY from Dec. 7 – 9; and Oakland, CA on March 7, 2013 (to coincide with ACC.13). If you live in any of these cities I encourage you to come out and help us spread the spirit of the heart!

Follow @CardioSmart on Twitter and search #SpiritHeart to join the conversations. Also be sure to visit CardioSmart’s Facebook page for additional tools and resources for patients.

Check out ACC video coverage of the Houston event.

This Saturday, Sept. 29 is World Heart Day, a global initiative created by the World Heart Federation to inform people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year.

Complementing the health policy statement released last week from the Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce which urged timely global action to save preventable death from cardiovascular disease (CVD), this year’s theme will focus on CVD prevention among women and children, and will emphasize the following:

• Women/children and CVD are not synonymous:
  • CVD is commonly considered an “older persons” and a “man’s” disease
  • Women underestimate their CVD risk; even though almost half of the 17.3 million annual deaths occur in women
    
• Children are particularly at risk, since they have little control over their environment and can be limited in choices to living heart-healthy lives
• Unless action is taken to enable heart-healthy activity, the children of today are at increased CVD risk later in life 
• Women/mothers are often the “gate keeper” to their family’s health hence a key influencer in keeping their hearts healthy

The College is proud to be a partner of the World Heart Federation, and is doing its part to promote awareness of women, children and heart disease by engaging members and patients worldwide.

At Heart House, ACC staff will practice what they preach by participating in a number of wellness activities leading up to World Heart Day. ACC member Allen Taylor, MD, FACC, will be giving a special preventive heart talk to staff, and the ACC’s Helping Hearts Community Service team will be speaking at a local elementary school about preventive actions towards CV health.

On the social media front, ACC’s CardioSmart initiative has teamed up with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s The Heart Truth® Campaign, healthfinder.gov, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts™ initiative for a special women’s heart health Twitter Chat which will take place this Friday, Sept. 29 from 1 – 2 p.m. ET. During the chat, experts including CardioSmart Editor Joanne Foody, MD, FACC, will be on hand to discuss heart health, dispel myths and answer questions from participants joining the conversation from around the world. To participate, follow @CardioSmart on Twitter and use the hashtag #HeartChat. (View the archived tweets here).

The ACC and CardioSmart have also built awareness through their Facebook pages, reaching a collective audience of nearly 15,000 individuals.  I encourage you to check out both ACC and CardioSmart’s Facebook pages and share the heart health facts, videos, patient tools and more.  (Oh, and “like” them while you’re there!)

In addition, this Saturday the ACC and the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) will be kicking off a series of health events targeted at the nation’s minority and underserved communities. The events, called Spirit of the Heart, provide a variety of activities over a three day span, including a panel discussion and a health fair open to the public where the ACC will conduct free health screenings and risk assessments. The kick off 2012 Spirit of the Heart event will be held in my hometown of Houston, Texas, where Keith Ferdinand, MD, FACC, and I will participate in the panel discussion. Future events will also be held in Dallas and Austin in October; Harlem, NY, in December; and Oakland, CA, to coincide with ACC.13 in San Francisco, so stay tuned!

With a day dedicated to the awareness of preventative steps for women and children, and with the collaborative help from all of our members, partners, and patients, it is my hope that we will be one step closer to dispelling CVD in this population.

I am honored and thrilled to announce that the ACC has been named one of Greater Washington’s Healthiest Employers by Washington Business Journal. Fifty Washington, DC-area employers were identified as the area’s healthiest employers within five categories based on organization size. The College was honored with 8th place in the 250 to 500 employee category.

The award makes public the news that the ACC truly practices what they preach. ACC’s Ready, Set, Go: Taking Care of You Wellness Program focuses on overall well-being of its more than 330 ACC staff. The program highlights the importance of mental, physical, emotional, nutritional and financial wellness. The Wellness Program was introduced in 2009 to proactively tackle increasing health care costs, changes to the health care landscape and industry competition by focusing on wellness education, employee education and lifestyle modification at Heart House.

The program has blossomed in 2012 with more participants than ever before and a growing culture of wellness within Heart House walls. Staff participate throughout the year in education sessions, fitness classes, fairs, partner challenges, screenings and more – all aimed at increasing morale, strengthening professional relationships, and resulting in healthier, happier employees. To date, 40 percent of employees completed biometric wellness screenings in both 2010 and 2011, 30 percent of staff participated in a pedometer-based step challenge and more than 40 employees consistently participate in ACC fitness classes. One of the newer offerings of the wellness program is a staff-specific version ACC’s CardioSmartTXT program to keep employees up to date on upcoming events or provide a quick wellness tip or resource. A short video (watch below) highlights the program offerings and was shown at the Healthiest Employers awards ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Washington.

We are days from the World Heart Federation’s World Heart Day celebration. Their theme last year was workplace wellness – a theme that ACC staff clearly embrace. This year, the College will celebrate World Heart Day’s women and children’s heart health theme in a big way with engaging, educational on-site events for staff. ACC members and the public can engage with ACC during the week prior to World Heart Day through social media channels including a #HeartChat Twitter Chat next Friday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. ET, led by the ACC, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s The Heart Truth® Campaign, healthfinder.gov, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts™ initiative. Stay tuned for more details.

Congratulations to the College and its staff for being awarded this prestigious title and for making wellness a priority.  

Today a very important health policy statement was released from the Global Cardiovascular Disease Taskforce, a group of experts representing the ACCF, World Heart Federation, American Heart Association, European Heart Network and European Society of Cardiology, and include ACC Past President David Holmes, MD, MACC, and myself. The jointly released health policy statement urges timely global action to save preventable death from cardiovascular disease (CVD).

The statement is timely and was released on the one year anniversary of the United Nations High-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (read my blog post from last year’s meeting here).  We are calling on government and the cardiovascular community to accelerate the progress on the commitments made last year and support the ten evidence-based targets, including the top four exposure targets on physical activity, tobacco, dietary salt intake and hypertension/blood pressure. By focusing on these top four targets, the goal is to achieve the following by 2025:

• A 10 percent relative reduction in prevalence of insufficient physical activity in adults aged 18+ years;
• A 30 percent relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco smoking;
• A 30 percent relative reduction in mean adult (aged 18+) population intake of salt, with aim of achieving recommended level of less than 5 grams per day; and
• A 25 percent relative reduction in prevalence of raised blood pressure.

We all agree that this first step is imperative if we are to achieve the overarching goal of a 25 percent reduction in mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2015, a goal that was determined this past May at the 65th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The ACC is calling upon its members to take this statement to heart. With CVD costing governments nearly $863 billion globally, and the number of deaths related to CVD expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030, the consequences will be astronomical if we are not successful at curbing these preventable deaths. Read more about the statement on CardioSource.org.

A spotlight will be on cardiovascular disease during World Heart Day on Sept. 29, and the College and other stakeholders worldwide are participating in activities focused on prevention for women and children. More information on ACC World Heart Day activities is posted on both the ACC and CardioSmart Facebook pages.

This post was authored by Janet Wright, MD, FACC, Executive Director of Million Hearts™, a national, public-private initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

While one in three adults has high blood pressure, only half of them have it under control. This is one critical reason why public and private organizations united in September 2011 in an unprecedented effort to help Americans improve the health of their hearts. Together we created the Million Hearts™ initiative that aims to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017 through clinical and community interventions.

In our first year, thousands of supporters—individuals, medical professionals, public health agencies, health care systems, and private companies—have made specific commitments to achieving our goal. We are delighted by their passion as we work together to reduce high blood pressure, the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the latest Vital Signs report as part of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. It reports that the majority of people with uncontrolled high blood pressure are being treated but they still do not have their hypertension under control. These are missed opportunities to make a difference in their lives and the health of the country.

Working as a team is one way we can better capture these opportunities. In May, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended team-based care for blood pressure control. The Task Force found that blood pressure control improved when care was provided by a team of health professionals—a physician supported by a pharmacist, nurse, dietitian, social worker, or community health worker—rather than by a physician alone. By taking this approach, some of our partners, including private practitioners, community clinics, and large health care systems, such as the VA and Kaiser Permanente, already have been able to help more than 80% of their patients control their blood pressure. Join us in helping 10 million more hypertensive Americans control their blood pressure by 2017. How can you—and your patients—be the best in blood pressure control?

1. Make control a priority. Measure yourself via PINNACLE or submit the ABCS-related Cardiovascular Prevention Measures Group in CMS’ Physician Quality Reporting System. Recognize and reward those in your practice or system who are leading the way.
2. Use EHRs to identify patients who aren’t being treated or are not yet under control.
3. Enlist every member of your team.  Pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, clerical office staff, and others all play key roles in helping patients control blood pressure.
4. Ask your patients to self-monitor, and make sure they know their goal numbers. Use an elevated reading as a signal to acquire and assess the blood pressure pattern over the next month, enabling prompt, sound, and safe treatment decisions.
5. Make adherence as easy as possible for patients. Prescribe once-a-day regimens, combination pills, and 90-day supplies when appropriate. Ask patients about difficulties taking medicines, and encourage them to use pillboxes, a simple and proven tool to improve adherence.

Visit millionhearts.hhs.gov for resources from Million Hearts™. Check out ACC blood pressure tools for patients and providers, as well as read more on the CDC report, on CardioSource.org.