Tools You Can Use

Create your own standardized protocol for tobacco cessation treatment—Use this customizable template to craft a protocol for identifying and treating patients who use tobacco. Visit the Million Hearts^® website to get the template and explore sample evidence-based protocols.
Enhance your state’s tobacco cessation efforts among the behavioral health population—People with mental or substance use disorders are more likely to die of tobacco-related causes. Thisresource guide from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides state substance abuse and mental health block grant recipients with evidence-based strategies and tools for developing smoking cessation policies and programs.
Get to know your ABCS!—CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention released the Surveillance and Evaluation Data Resource Guide for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, a cardiovascular disease–specific guide that is a companion resource to Surveillance and Evaluation Data Resources for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs. This at-a-glance compilation of data sources is useful for heart disease and stroke prevention programs determining policy or conducting data surveillance and evaluation.
Perfect your physician feedback reporting system—The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a new guide:Confidential Physician Feedback Reports: Designing for Optimal Impact on Performance. The guide is a practical resource designed to help those who develop confidential physician feedback reports. It lists evidence-based strategies to consider when designing or refining a feedback reporting system.
Get tips on explaining heart failure to your patients—Downloadfree posters and a collection of infographics from CardioSmart. Display them in your waiting and exam rooms to educate patients.
Be inspired by nurse practitioner-led ABCS prevention models—For May’s National Nurse Week, the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners featured a comprehensive how-to: “The Million Hearts^® initiative: Guidelines and best practices.
Watch the Million Hearts^®YouTube playlist—Million Hearts^®videos educate Americans about heart disease and stroke risk factors and the steps they can take to reduce their risk.

Million Hearts^® in the Community

Million Hearts^® director shares tips and resources from blood pressure Champions. In this Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ podcast, Million Hearts^® Executive Director Janet Wright highlights the 2015 Hypertension Control Champions and the many resources available for health care professionals on the Million Hearts^® and CDC websites.
CDC hosts Public Health Grand Rounds on stroke. To commemorate National Stroke Month, CDC focused its May 17 Public Health Grand Rounds on “Mind Your Risks™ and Act FAST to Prevent and Treat Strokes.” The presentation highlighted how public health programs and healthcare professionals are working together across the nation to identify and reduce stroke risks and to improve the quality of stroke care and treatment.
Join the Undiagnosed Hypertension in the Safety Net Webinar.The National Association of Community Health Centers is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, June 14 from 1 to 2 p.m. EST to share cutting-edge interventions designed to address undiagnosed hypertension (our tools and strategies reaching a national audience!). Register now to get the latest information on national guidelines, out-of-office measurement, and new tools and resources for finding the undiagnosed.
The Ohio State University and Women’s Heart Alliance (WHA) Team Up to Fight Women’s Number One Killer, Heart Disease.Ohio State and WHA launched a new partnership to address women’s heart disease, by screening and educating college-aged women about the risks of heart disease and key steps for preventing the disease. Ohio State will also support WHA’s efforts to collect and analyze survey data to learn more about young women and heart disease.
CDC-funded initiative aims to improve blood pressure control and cardiovascular health. The New York University-City University of New York Prevention Research Center launched Project IMPACT (Implementing Million Hearts^® for Provider and Community Transformation), an innovative partnership between payer organizations, small primary care practices, and local health departments. The partnership will test the effectiveness of using evidence-based strategies for hypertension management among South Asian patients across New York City.
Upcoming AHRQ webinar will highlight Health IT for primary care practices. Join the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for its June 22 webinar focusing on how primary care practices can use health information technology (IT) to improve quality and patient outcomes, especially related to heart health. The webinar, Practical Solutions for Supporting Quality Improvement in Primary Care through Health Information Technology, is part of AHRQ’s EvidenceNOW program, a grant initiative dedicated to helping thousands of small- and medium-sized primary care practices use current evidence to improve cardiovascular care for millions of Americans nationwide.

Let us know what you’re doing to advance Million Hearts^® in your community! Send us a short description with some key points, and we may feature you in a future e-Update!

The Science of Million Hearts^®

Task Force recommends using aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease events. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends using a low dose of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and colorectal cancer in adults aged 50–59 years who have a 10% or greater 10-year CVD risk, are not at increased risk for bleeding, have a life expectancy of at least a decade, and are willing to take the dose daily for at least 10 years.
Home blood pressure monitoring accurately predicts heart events. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that home blood pressure readings may be a better predictor of stroke and heart disease risk than measurements collected at a doctor's office. For additional information, read the Million Hearts^® Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring Action Guide for clinicians. Stay tuned for more from Million Hearts^®!
Brain health implicated by heart health. Vascular diseases like heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure can harm the brain as well as the heart. The Administration for Community Living, the National Institutes of Health, and CDC have teamed up to create the Brain Health Resource, a toolkit that includes evidence-based information and resources to facilitate conversations with older adults about brain health.

Congratulations to our 2015 Hypertension Control Champions!This year, we recognize 18 health care practices and systems across the country for their success in achieving blood pressure control rates at or above the Million Hearts^®goal of 70%. This year’s Champions feature 11 small and 7 large practices, 10 of which are federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Together, these professionals care for more than 1.5 million adults in 14 states. Learn moreabout these and past Champions, including lessons learned, and see how you can be a Champion in your practice!

—Janet Wright, MD, FACC
Executive Director, Million Hearts^®

Do This!
Up your game by improving your heart health during Men’s Health Month this June!
Encourage the men in your community to take care of their heart health by sharing these inspiring personal stories. Visit the Million Hearts^® website for additional tools and resources. You can also join the conversation online by using #MenHaveHeart and following Million Hearts^® on Facebookand Twitter.