Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge
| Published date | 14 February 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 8593 |
| Record Number | 2020-02987 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Centers For Disease Control And Prevention,Health And Human Services Department |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 31 (Friday, February 14, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8593-8596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02987]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located
within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the
launch of the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge.
DATES: The Challenge will accept applications from February 21, 2020
through April 6, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Division for Heart Disease and Stroke
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy
NE, Mailstop MS-S107-1, Chamblee, GA 30341, Telephone: 770-488-2424,
Email: [email protected]; subject line of email: Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Challenge; Attention: Mary George.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Million Hearts is a national initiative to prevent one million
heart attacks and strokes by 2022. In order to prevent one million
cardiovascular events (e.g., heart attacks and strokes), we need to
decrease smoking, sodium consumption and physical inactivity by 20%;
improve performance on quality of care measures for appropriate aspirin
use, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking
cessation to 80%; and improve outcomes for priority populations
disproportionately burdened by cardiovascular disease. Over the last
six years, we have seen tremendous progress by providers and health
care systems that focus on improving their performance in controlling
patients' blood pressure. Getting to 80% blood pressure control would
mean that 10 million more Americans with hypertension would have their
blood pressure under control, and be at substantially lower risk for
strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, and other related
cardiovascular events. For more information about the initiative, visit
https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/. Million Hearts is a registered
trademark of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The challenge is an important way to call attention to the need for
improved hypertension control, provides a powerful motivation and
target for clinicians, and will improve understanding of successful
implementation strategies at the health system level. It will identify
clinicians, clinical practices, and health systems that have
exceptional rates of
[[Page 8594]]
hypertension control and recognize them as 2020 Million Hearts
Hypertension Control Champions. To support improved quality of care
delivered to patients with hypertension, Million Hearts will document
the systems, strategies, processes, and staffing that contribute to the
exceptional blood pressure control rates achieved by Champions.
Subject of Challenge Competition: The challenge is authorized by
Public Law 111-358, the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully
Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Reauthorization
Act of 2010 (COMPETES Act).
Applicants for the 2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Challenge will be asked to provide two hypertension control rates for
the practice's or health system's hypertensive population: a current
rate for the most recent 12-month reporting period (e.g., 1/1/2019-12/
31/2019) and a previous rate for the 12-month period immediately
preceding the most recent reporting period (e.g., 1/1/2018-12/31/2018).
Applicants will also be asked to provide the prevalence of hypertension
in their population (more details provided below), describe some
population characteristics (such as urban/rural location, percent
minority, percent enrolled in Medicaid, percent with no health
insurance, and percent whose primary language is not English) and
strategies used by the practice or health system that support
improvements in blood pressure control. A copy of the application form
will be available on the Challenge website for the duration of the
Challenge.
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition
To be eligible for recognition as a Million Hearts Hypertension
Control Champion under this challenge, an individual or entity --
(1) Shall have completed the application form in its entirety to
participate in the competition under the rules developed by HHS/CDC;
(2) Shall have complied with all eligibility requirements and
satisfy the requirements in one of the following subparts:
a. Be a U.S. licensed clinician (i.e., MD, DO, nurse practitioner,
or physician assistant), practicing in any U.S. setting, who provides
ongoing care for adult patients with hypertension. The individual must
be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.;
b. Be a U.S. incorporated clinical practice, defined as any
practice with two or more U.S. licensed clinicians who by formal
arrangement share responsibility for a common panel of patients,
practice at the same physical location or street address, and provide
continuing medical care for adult patients with hypertension;
c. Be a health system, incorporated in and maintaining a primary
place of business in the U.S., that provides continuing medical care
for adult patients with hypertension. We encourage large health systems
(those that are comprised of a large number of geographically dispersed
clinics and/or have multiple hospital locations) to consider having one
or a few of the highest performing clinics or regional affiliates apply
individually instead of the health system applying as a whole;
(3) Must treat all adult patients with hypertension in the
practice, not a selected subgroup of patients;
(4) Must have a data management system (electronic or paper) that
allows HHS/CDC or their contractor to verify data submitted;
(5) Must treat a minimum of 500 adult patients annually and have a
hypertension control rate (blood pressure http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/background.asp.
Individual applicants must be free from serious sanctions, such as
those for misuse or mis-prescribing of prescription medications.
Eligibility status of individual applicants with serious sanctions will
be determined at the discretion of CDC. CDC or CDC's contractor may
perform background checks on individual clinicians and medical
practices.
Champions previously recognized through the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017,
2018, and 2019 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenges retain
their designation as a ``Champion'' and are not eligible to be named a
Champion in the 2020 challenge.
An individual or organization shall not be disqualified from the
2020 Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge for utilizing
Federal facilities or consulting with Federal employees during a
competition so long as the facilities and Federal employees are made
available to all individuals and
[[Page 8595]]
organizations participating in the competition on an equal basis.
By participating in this challenge, an individual or organization
agrees to assume any and all risks related to participating in the
challenge. Individuals or organizations also agree to waive claims
against the Federal Government and its related entities, except in the
case of willful misconduct, when participating in the challenge,
including claims for injury; death; damage; or loss of property, money,
or profits, and including those risks caused by negligence or other
causes.
By participating in this challenge, individuals and organizations
agree to protect the Federal Government against third party claims for
damages arising from or related to challenge activities.
Individuals or organizations are not required to hold liability
insurance related to participation in this challenge.
No cash prize will be awarded. Champions will receive national
recognition.
Registration Process for Participants
To participate and submit an application, interested parties should
go to https://millionhearts.hhs.gov or https://www.challenge.gov. On
this site, applicants will find the application form and the rules and
guidelines for participating. Information required of the applicants on
the application form includes:
The size of the applicant's adult primary care patient
population, a summary of known patient demographics (e.g., age
distribution), and any noteworthy patient population characteristics
(such as urban/rural location, percent minority, percent enrolled in
Medicaid, percent with no health insurance, and percent whose primary
language is not English).
The number of the applicant's adult primary care patients,
ages 18-85, who were seen during the measurement year and had a
hypertension diagnosis (i.e. hypertension prevalence).
The applicant's current hypertension control rate for
their hypertensive population ages 18-85 during the measurement year is
required. In determining the hypertension control rate for the 2020
Million Hearts Hypertension Control Challenge, CDC defines
``hypertension control'' as a blood pressure reading The hypertension control rate should be for the provider's
or health system's entire adult hypertensive patient population ages
18-85, and not limited to a sample. The provider's or health system's
hypertensive population ages 18-85 should include only patients in
primary care or in cardiology care in the case of a cardiology clinic.
Patients seen only in dental care or behavioral health care should not
be included. Examples of ineligible data submissions include
hypertension control rates that are limited to treatment cohorts from
research studies or pilot studies, patients limited to a specific age
range (such as 18-35 only), or patients enrolled in limited scale
quality improvement projects.
Completion of a checklist of sustainable clinic systems or
processes that support hypertension control. These may include provider
or patient incentives, dashboards, staffing characteristics, electronic
record keeping systems, reminder or alert systems, clinician reporting,
service modifications, etc.
The estimated burden for completing the application form is 30
minutes.
Amount of the Prize
Up to 35 of the highest scoring clinical practices or health
systems will be recognized as Million Hearts Hypertension Control
Champions. No cash prize will be awarded. Champions will receive
national recognition through the Million Hearts initiative.
Basis Upon Which Champions Will Be Selected
The application will be scored based on two hypertension control
rates: one for your most recent 12-month reporting period ending not
earlier than December 31, 2019, and consistency with a previous rate
for the 12-month period beginning 1 year before the current period.
Phase 1 includes verification of the hypertension prevalence and
blood pressure control rate data submitted and a background check. For
applicants whose Phase 1 data is verified as accurate and who pass the
background check without concerns, phase 2 consists of a medical chart
review. The medical chart review will verify the diagnosis of
hypertension during the reporting year as well as blood pressure being
controlled to Challenge.gov website, that information is used to respond to
Contestants in matters regarding their application, announcements of
applicants, finalists, and winners of the Challenge.
General Conditions
CDC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the
Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at HHS/CDC's sole
discretion.
Award Approving Official: Robert R. Redfield, MD, Director, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and Administrator, Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry.
Participation in this Contest constitutes a contestants' full and
unconditional agreement to abide by the Contest's Official Rules found
at https://www.Challenge.gov and https://millionhearts.hhs.gov/.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
Dated: February 11, 2020.
Sandra Cashman,
Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-02987 Filed 2-13-20; 8:45 am]
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