Moroni, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/18/2019 --Intermountain Moroni Clinic is one of 17 clinics nationwide – and the only clinic in Utah and four western states – to be recognized for their efforts to help a large percentage of their patients effectively control their high blood pressure.

The clinic has been named as a 'Hypertension Control Champion' by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of their 2019 Million Hearts® Challenge. This designation recognizes clinics that have worked to control the hypertension (high blood pressure) rates of at least 80 percent of their adult patients, and help them achieve healthy blood pressure levels. This has been a goal and focus for the clinic for several years.

"Over the past six years, we've found that repeat blood pressure checks are most likely to happen if both medical assistants and providers address the high blood pressure with the patient, and follow up with timed reminders to have it rechecked," said Eileen Jackson, MD, medical director for the Intermountain Moroni Clinic. "Blood pressure rechecks are planned at intervals appropriate to each patient's circumstances."

Intermountain Moroni Clinic caregivers are able to help so many patients improve their blood pressure by providing lots of follow-up and personalized care which helps engage patients to follow through with recommended treatment and blood pressure checks.

"We place reminders in our electronic health record message log and call patients when they need a recheck. The patient can go to the nearest Intermountain facility, including hospitals, pharmacies, or clinics, where blood pressure rechecks are offered on demand," noted Dr. Jackson. "This reduces the need for scheduling as many paid clinic visits, thereby reducing patient costs. We also lend out home blood pressure cuffs to people who have trouble with travel. At the clinic, we continue to recheck and adjust treatment as needed until the blood pressure is controlled."

"Intermountain Moroni Clinic has led the way for Intermountain Healthcare to begin rolling out this process to all other primary care clinics," said Nicole Boudreaux, MSML, personalized primary care coordinator for the Intermountain Medical Group.

Hypertension is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke and is a potentially life-altering problem for tens of millions of adults in the United States. Most adults who have high blood pressure do not have their condition under control. The CDC challenge helps health systems share lessons learned and paths to improve blood pressure control nationwide.

Million Hearts® is a national initiative, co-led by CDC and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2022. Saving lives through better blood pressure control has been a longstanding CDC priority. The CDC recognizes the champions' performance and shares their lessons learned to inspire others to focus on achieving similar success.

"The Utah Million Hearts Coalition supports the national initiative and applauds the staff of the Moroni Clinic for this great achievement," said Edwin Espinel, health systems specialist at the Utah Department of Health's Healthy Living Through Environment, Policy & Improved Clinical Care program.

About Intermountain Healthcare
Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs. For more information, see intermountainhealthcare.org.