BP Control

UMass Chan Medical School is awarded the UMass Chan Prevention Research Center (PRC) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the 2019-2024 funding cycle.  As part of this award, the UMass Chan PRC will implement an applied research project titled BP Control. Research shows that we can help people control their high blood pressure by helping people take their medications as prescribed. Controlling high blood pressure is vitally important to individual and public health, as almost 50% of adults in the United States have hypertension, and about half of these people have uncontrolled hypertension. There are disparities in rates of both high blood pressure and uncontrolled high blood pressure among different groups of people. People with low-income and certain racial/ethnic minority groups have higher rates of both hypertension and uncontrolled hypertension. As high blood pressure can lead to stroke or cardiovascular disease, uncontrolled hypertension can result in huge health and financial burdens. In fact, by 2030, hypertension-related health care costs are projected to be $200.3 billion per year.

Through BP Control, UMass Chan PRC will implement an intervention that has evidence of effectiveness in controlling hypertension. It will study the costs, return on investment, and blood pressure control groups among groups of people that have higher rates of ucontrolled blood pressure.

BP Control is led by UMass Chan PRC Director Milagros C. Rosal, PhD in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center, Family Health Center of Worcester, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis, the Community Care Cooperative (MassHealth Accountable Care Organization), and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Division of Prevention and Wellness.