New AHRQ Views Blog Post: AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW Initiative – Reducing Primary Care Patients’ Risk of Heart Attacks

As AHRQ recognizes February as Heart Health Month, David Meyers, M.D., AHRQ’s chief medical officer, shares stories from primary care practices in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Oregon that have made substantial improvements in their heart health care while receiving support from AHRQ’s initiative. These practices expanded screening for high blood pressure, increased the use of smoking cessation counseling and provided enhanced care for patients identifiedat high risk for heart disease. Through EvidenceNOW, AHRQ is working with more than 1,500 small- and medium-size primary care practices to help improve the delivery of services proven to prevent heart attacks and strokes. These include the “ABCS” of heart health – Aspirin use by high-risk individuals, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, and Smoking cessation. Dr. Meyers’ blog post also describes how AHRQ’s contributions to heart health are aligned with the Million Hearts® initiative, a national effort to combat heart disease, the nation’s number one killer.

EvidenceNOW in Action

EvidenceNOW Cooperatives provide tailored external support to small practices in their regions to help them use evidence and data to enhance care. For example, external consultants help practices use their electronic health record data to identify at-risk patients and improve care, streamline processes to make care more efficient, and train staff.

Learn about the positive impact EvidenceNOW is having on these practices and their patients, including identifying and treating patients at risk of heart disease, to improving smoking cessation counseling and reducing clinician burnout.

Implementing Evidence-based Heart Health Care in Asheville
"Cardiovascular disease prevention has the biggest impact on patient care."
James Early, M.D. (Asheville, NC)

New Ideas Lead to Big Changes in Care
"The practice is constantly developing new ideas to improve heart health care."
Mr. Steven Brantley (Klamath Falls, OR)

Implementing small changes and watching how they grow--it has a snowball effect where care continues to get better and better.

Using Data To Tackle Undiagnosed Hypertension and Improve Patient Care
"Implementing small changes and watching how they grow—it has a snowball effect where care continues to get better and better."
Ms. Erin Dickinson (Hammond, IN)

Change takes time, but there's always something--that we can work on together to improve.

Helping Primary Care Teams Rediscover the Joy of Practicing Medicine
"Change takes time, but there’s always something…that we can work on together to improve."
Mike Talley, M.P.C., M.O.A. (Richmond, VA)

Progress under EvidenceNOW included increasing blood pressure measurement for at-risk patients from 49% to 82%.

EvidenceNOW Leads to Huge Gains for Small Oklahoma Practice
"Progress under EvidenceNOW included increasing blood pressure measurement for at-risk patients from 49% to 82%."
(Broken Arrow, OK)

Page last reviewed February 2018
Page originally created January 2018

Internet Citation: EvidenceNOW in Action. Content last reviewed February 2018. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/evidencenow/stories/evidencenow-in-action.html