COSEHC Cardiovascular Centers of Excellence

Submission Date: December 2012

Entry Type: Case Study

State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: South Carolina

States/Territories Involved: South Carolina

Domain Addressed:

Health Systems Strategies

Public Health Issue:

The Consortium of Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC) supports and designates Cardiovascular Centers of Excellence, electronic data reporting, and improved patient outcomes. The mission of COSEHC is to reduce morbidity and mortality from hypertension related conditions in the United States, especially in the southeast region. Strategies contributing to this mission include: research and the translation of research findings, development of magnet clinical centers for provision of evidence-based best practices, education of providers through CME by renowned experts in cardiovascular medicine, and improvement of the management of cardiovascular disease through promotion of risk factor reduction. COSEHC CV Centers of Excellence provide a networked community of academic and primary health care delivery sites, delivery of best practices through a local/regional focus with academic/tertiary care center resources, and are a practice model for translational research. COSEHC CV Centers of Excellence are known for cardiovascular expertise in local community.

At the end of 2011, COSEHC has reached approx. 168,454 active patients in participating COSEHC practices. Approximately 41% of the active patients are diagnosed with cardiometabolic risk factors, half of which have achieved high blood pressure control through the work of COSEHC. COSEHC’s reach continues to grow, as of Spring 2012.

Project Objectives:

Increase percent of patients including diabetic patient population with controlled high blood pressure from 50% to 60%

Program Action:

COSEHC will work with the Heart Disease and Stroke Program (HDSP) to enroll new primary care practices as CV Centers of Excellence to provide educational programming (with CMEs) and performance improvement methodology to improve clinical performance in managing cardiometabolic risk factors including: high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. Additionally, COSEHC will introduce the use of multidisciplinary patient management pathways that overlay practice system processes and self-management protocols with clinical interventions. COSEHC will collect data for baseline and quarterly reports to illustrate trending performance changes within each of the enrolled practices; these reports will be provided to HDSP. Data measures will include: systolic & diastolic BP, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, HgA1c, height, weight, aspirin therapy and tobacco use (if recorded in the patient record or included as a discrete field in the EMR).

Data/Other Information Collected:

Improved clinical outcomes, e.g. systolic & diastolic BP, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, HgA1c, height, weight, aspirin therapy and tobacco use

Impact/Accomplishments:

COSEHC programming is currently reaching 69,783 patients with ICD codes 401, 250, and/or 272 in South Carolina practices. There are 34,891 patients that have reached control for systolic blood pressure goals of < 140 mm Hg non-diabetic; < 130 mm Hg diabetic while the practice has been involved in COSEHC programming. The approximate total of current active patients in these practices is: 168,454 (approximately 41% of the active patients are diagnosed with cardiometabolic risk factors). This does not include any of the practices that COSEHC has enrolled in the Spartanburg regional area, as they do not have their baseline data yet.

Challenges/Lessons Learned:

Aggregate hypertension data has only recently been made available although other clinical data is not yet available.

Next Steps:

Recruitment of new sites

Program Areas:

Heart Disease and Stroke

State Contact Information:

SC
Joy F. Brooks, MHA
SC Department of Health and Environmental Control
803-545-4497
brooksjf@dhec.sc.gov

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