Abstract 17197: Team-Based Care for Uncontrolled Hypertension in Accountable Care Organizations: A Simulation Study

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Team-based care (TBC) is associated with greater blood pressure (BP) reductions than usual care, particularly when non-physicians titrate antihypertensive medications, but has yet to be widely adopted. This analysis projected the effectiveness of TBC among patients with uncontrolled hypertension from three accountable care organizations (ACOs): Columbia University Medical Center (New York), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (California), and Ochsner Accountable Care Network (Louisiana). Methods: The Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Policy Model is a computer model that simulates modifiable hypertension care processes (i.e., office visit frequency, BP measurement accuracy, medication intensification, and patient medication adherence) and has been validated to reproduce TBC outcomes. We used the CVD Policy Model to simulate the ACO population aged >=65 years with BP >=140/90 mmHg at two outpatient visits in 2015, and project BP and CVD outcomes out to 10 years with usual care alone vs. one year of TBC followed by a return to usual care. Hypertension usual care processes were derived from national sources and published literature. The model was calibrated to reproduce systolic BP reductions with TBC at one year vs. usual care from a published meta-analysis, which were stratified by the team member responsible for antihypertensive medication titration: -5.0 (95%CI -7.9, -2.2) mmHg with physician titration and -10.5 (95%CI -16.2, -4.8) mmHg with non-physician titration. Results: The ACO population with uncontrolled BP (N=9,788) had a mean (SD) age of 76.3 (7.8) years; 66.6% were white and 59.8% female. The mean BP (SD) at baseline was 151.1 (13.0)/78.1 (10.6) mmHg and 39.1% had a history of CVD. Compared with usual care at 10 years, TBC with non-physician titration was projected to increase the proportion with BP <140/90 mmHg by 16.0% and TBC with physician titration by 4.2%. Relative to usual care, TBC with non-physician titration was projected to prevent 20.8 CVD events per 1000 individuals and TBC with physician titration to prevent 6.6 CVD events. Conclusion: Universal adoption of TBC, especially with non-physician titration, could improve achievement of quality benchmark BP control goals and prevent CVD events in ACO populations.