Tailoring TM-HTN Intervention for Black Patients

Tailoring a Telemedicine Hypertension Management Intervention for Black Patients

Current clinic-based hypertension (HTN) management models have several limitations, resulting in episodic care that does not adequately support patients' self-care skills, and fails to achieve blood pressure (BP) control.

Telemedicine management of HTN (TM-HTN) can augment and overcome challenges by allowing more support for patients' HTN self-care skills, providing multiple home Blood Pressure values and overcoming failure to appropriately intensify treatment. TM-HTN consists of 1) home BP monitoring, 2) home BP based pharmacotherapy, and 3) telemedicine-based self-management support.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects must be African American or Black
• experiencing socially disadvantage
• Patients with systolic Blood Pressure ≥140 mmHg on their last two clinic visits and baseline systolic BP >130 mmHg using the mean of two research BP values measured by trained staff
• Subjects must be on stable Blood Pressure medications for the preceding 6 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to read or speak English
• diminished ability to measure home Blood Pressure
• chronic kidney disease ≥stage 4
• persistent/chronic atrial fibrillation
• severe hypertension >180/110 mmHg
• acute health changes in past 3 months increasing chance of Blood Pressure instability
• terminal illness