(P230) A NEW QUALITY STANDARD FOR HYPERTENSION: GUIDING EVIDENCE-BASED, HIGH-QUALITY CARE IN ONTARIO

Background: In February 2024, Ontario Health released the Hypertension: Care in the Community for Adults quality standard. The purpose of the quality standard is to outline key opportunities to improve care for people living with or at risk of developing hypertension based on the best available evidence, Ontario data, and expert consensus. Ontario Health quality standards focus on conditions or processes where there are large variations in how care is delivered, or where there are gaps between the care provided in Ontario and the care patients should receive.

Hypertension is the most common modifiable risk factor for death or disability. In fiscal year 2022-2023, 66% of people aged 65 years and older in Ontario reported having received a diagnosis of hypertension; for 33% of them, their hypertension is poorly managed. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of emergency department visits with a diagnosis of hypertension rose by 19%. Improving hypertension management in primary care and home and community care settings is key to preventing avoidable emergency department visits and unplanned hospitalizations and improving patient outcomes.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The development process included recruiting an advisory committee of clinical experts and people with lived experience, analyzing Ontario data to help prioritize outcomes and key topic areas, developing quality statements and indicators, identifying tools and resources to support implementation as well as key barriers and enablers, and consulting diverse groups of interest including equity-deserving populations. Quality statements and indicators were developed through an environmental scan, guideline review, and public feedback. Early priorities for implementing the quality standard were also identified.

The advisory committee prioritized 7 areas for improvement: culturally responsive care; accurate measurement of blood pressure; out-of-office assessment to confirm a diagnosis; health behaviour changes; care planning and self-management; monitoring and follow-up after a confirmed diagnosis; and improving adherence to medications. To measure the successful implementation of the quality standard, indicators selected through the development process have been included in the quality standard to support local and provincial quality improvement work.

Conclusion: The Hypertension quality standard provides an evidence-based resource outlining what high-quality care looks like. The goal is to help people with hypertension, and their families and care partners, understand the high-quality care they should be receiving from clinicians and health care organizations. The quality standard also aims to encourage and support clinicians and organizations to prioritize improvement efforts and measure successful implementation of the quality standard.