The Achieving Cardiovascular Equity (ACE+) Quality Improvement Project (QIP) is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Diabetes and Heart Disease Prevention and Management Program. Building on previous successes, ACE+ will focus on improving cardiovascular health by increasing hypertension control, addressing hyperlipidemia treatment, and connecting patients with resources to address health-related social needs. The Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center (GRC) will implement a Primary Care Cardiovascular QIP in collaboration ODH and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The project AIMS are to improve the cardiovascular health of Ohioans with a special focus on Non-Hispanic Black patients and those living in priority areas such as the Appalachian region.
ACE+ participating sites will work to:
- Educate staff and improve office processes related to cardiovascular health
- Improve blood pressure (BP) control through the use of appropriate BP treatment algorithms
- Ensure consistent use of ASCVD risk calculator and improve statin use where clinically appropriate
- Explore electronic health record (EHR) functionality to screen for health-related social needs, and reporting capabilities to help manage this population
- Make community connections for your patients with identified health-related social needs, including the possibility to use a closed-loop referral resource
Teams will utilize the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) Model for Improvement to complete small tests of change via plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles. The ACE+ provider change package outlines additional strategies to achieve these goals. Through these key strategies, the previous cohort of the ACE QIP improved BP control across the patient population and decreases in the baseline disparity among non-Hispanic Black patients and Hispanic American patients when compared to non-Hispanic White patients were observed. The impact of this work can affect other quality metrics such as the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) score for blood pressure control.