Impact and risks of untreated hypertension on managed care. Based on a presentation by Thomas H. Lee, MD.

Managed care is in crisis. Rising costs, the disparity between benefits and premiums, and/or risk contracts are leading to physician revolt and patient backlash. However, providers are strongly motivated to improve the quality of care. Hypertension management is a major area of provider focus because treatment of hypertension has been clearly established to be clinically beneficial, there is much room for improvement in hypertension management, and the Health Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) 2000 initiative has included blood pressure control as a quality-of-care measure. The major goals of improving hypertension care are to monitor patients and improve compliance with therapy, identify patients lost to follow-up, improve tools to help patients become more involved in their own care, and increase the accuracy and objectivity of blood pressure measurement.