Ellsworth Medical Center Wins National Award for Hypertension Care
ICSI member Ellsworth Medical Clinic was named a 2012 Hypertension Control Champion by the Million HeartsTM initiative, a public-private effort by the Department of Health and Human Services to prevent a million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. Since 2007, the clinic’s hypertension control rate has gone from 73 to 97 percent, and it is one of only two clinics nationwide to be awarded this honor.
Christopher Tashjian, MD, a physician at Ellsworth Medical Clinic and president of the group, says improvement in the practice came when the entire staff – including other caregivers and administrative staff, not just doctors – were involved in quality-improvement initiatives. They saw another big improvement after the clinic started using electronic medical records, which enabled the staff to more carefully track their patients. “We are a small practice,” Tashjian says. “Our feeling is that if we can do it with the limited resources, anyone can. We may not be huge, but we can deliver world class care."