Heart Health Now!

From 2015 to 2018, NCHQA collaborated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the NC Area Health Education Centers Program, and Community Care of North Carolina to convene the External Advisory Committee (EAC) for Heart Health Now. UNC was one of seven grant recipients and recruited 219 practices in the state that followed almost 600,000 patients for cardiovascular disease risk factors. The EAC convened regularly to review protocol development and practice recruitment and provide pro-active guidance and reactive solutions to ensure optimal progression of the project. The EAC reflected the composition of NCHQA with particular emphasis on providers, patients, and patient advocates who have experienced or are familiar with cardiovascular-related care.

The Heart Health Now initiative utilized practice support coaches to address adult cardiovascular disease risk factors and novel informatics tools in small primary care practices. With the support of coaches, these practices have demonstrated improvement in hypertension control and statin treatment. For additional information on Heart Health Now and its findings, please visit https://hearthealthnow.org.