July 19, 2018
HEDIS® measures the percentage of high blood pressure patients ages 18 – 85 years with controlled blood pressure at the end of the year. When you take accurate blood pressure readings, you’re more likely to comply with the HEDIS® Controlling High Blood Pressure (CBP) measure.
Just follow these tips:
- Resting: Your patient should sit quietly for five minutes before the BP is measured
- Cuff size: Too small of a cuff may give a falsely high reading
- Good posture: Have your patient sit up straight and uncross their legs to prevent. systolic and diastolic pressures varying from 2-8 mmHg
- Arm position: Make sure the elbow is at the same level as the heart to prevent elevated BP by 10 to 12 mmHg
- Repeat readings: If your patient’s BP falls in the uncontrolled range, take and record more than one reading during the same visit and consider switching arms
- Manual readings: Don’t round up
- In order to diagnose high blood pressure, take your patient’s BP over the course of at least three visits, spaced over a period of one week or longer
- Start a treatment plan for patients diagnosed with high BP and schedule their next appointment
Read more about the Controlling High Blood Pressure HEDIS measure.
For more information and/or questions regarding this article, email ProviderClinicalConsulting@premera.com.
HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).