June 2017  

Federal Employee Program Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico (BCBSNM) Federal Employee Program^® (FEP) and the American Medical Association (AMA) are working together to provide physicians with resources designed to help improve health outcomes for patients with hypertension or suspected hypertension. This effort supports the goals of the Million Hearts^® initiative.

Information covering self-measured blood pressure monitoring, a component of the Improving Health Outcomes: Blood Pressure Program developed by the AMA, is designed to help you and your office staff engage your patients in the self-measurement of their own blood pressure.¹   According to a 15-member task force appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), when physicians and their office staff engage their patients in the self-measurement of their own blood pressure combined with additional support (i.e., patient counseling, education or web-based support), self-measured blood pressure monitoring becomes very effective and cost efficient.²

In support of this effort, FEP initiated a program to provide free blood pressure monitors* to FEP enrollees over age 18 who have a diagnosis of hypertension or have high blood pressure without a diagnosis of hypertension. If your patient completes the Blue Health Assessment (BHA) and reports they have high blood pressure and you and your patient discuss home monitoring, your patient is eligible to receive a free blood pressure monitor. The BHA is a health-risk assessment and the first step in the FEP Wellness Incentive Program. In addition to the free blood pressure monitor, members can earn financial incentives for completing the BHA and for achieving goals related to a healthy lifestyle. FEP members can go to www.fepblue.org for more information.

Please do not hesitate to contact FEP Customer Service at 800-245-1609 for more details regarding this program.

¹ American Medical Association Practice Improvement Strategies, Steps Forward Program, https://www.stepsforward.org/

² Cardiovascular Disease: Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring Interventions for Improved Blood Pressure Control – When Used Alone, June 2015, http://www.thecommunityguide.org/cvd/RRSMBP.html

*The blood pressure monitors were selected by BCBSNM. The AMA does not endorse any particular brand or model of blood pressure monitor.