UCSF Health Receives Excellence Award for Health Equity Efforts
Pharmacists, Health Coaching Help Improve Blood Pressure Control Among Black Patients
UCSF Health has been honored for its health equity efforts by the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS).
UCSF Health was named a Quality Excellence Award winner for its efforts to improve health equity for Black patients with hypertension. These patients, who had the highest rate of uncontrolled hypertension among all racial and ethnic groups, were offered a two-to-three-month intensive program that included telehealth pharmacist visits and coaching from health care navigators. Inside of a year, the percentage of Black patients with controlled blood pressure rose from 67.6% to 73.1%, which was about equal to the overall UCSF population with hypertension.
The project was a collaborative effort of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, UCSF's Office of Population Health, and UCSF Primary Care.
UCSF Health was one of three entities in the nation to receive the NAACOS award. NAACOS is a nonprofit of more than 400 ACOs in Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance who aim to improve quality of care for patients and reduce health care cost.
To learn more about UCSF’s project and the NAACOS award, please read the full announcement.