Heart Disease Management and Prevention
Well-Ahead empowers leaders in key organizations across the state to take an active role in the fight against heart disease in our communities. By making healthy living easy and accessible to residents at risk for or living with cardiovascular diseases, we can move Louisiana’s health forward.
Improve Heart Disease Outcomes in Louisiana
Family, food and fun makes life in Louisiana hard to beat. And our lifestyle has a big impact on our overall health. Health risk behaviors like poor diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use, as well as limited access to healthcare, cause our state to lead the nation in statistics for chronic diseases like heart disease. By making smart changes in areas like diet and physical activity; however, that can change for the better. Well-Ahead is committed to making it easy and accessible for all residents to live a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Heart disease is the
#1
killer in Louisiana, responsible for 25% of all deaths in the state in 2017¹
40%
of Louisiana residents have high blood pressure²
37.6%
of Louisiana residents have high cholesterol²
Stroke is the
#5
killer in Louisiana, responsible for 5% of all deaths in the state in 2017¹
Prevent and Manage Heart Disease in Louisiana
If we want to have the greatest health impact possible in our communities, we must work together. Everyone has a role to play in reducing the burden of heart disease in our state. We work to ensure our residents have access to quality health services for heart disease management and prevention by training and educating healthcare professionals on best practices and building connections between the community and clinical sector. Organization leaders in our communities can also build environments that encourage healthy habits that help prevent and manage heart disease where our residents live, work, learn, play and pray.
By focusing on connecting community organizations to evidence-based resources, we can empower leaders to implement healthy policy, systems and environmental changes and ensure access to quality health services.
Community-Based Blood Pressure Monitoring Programs
These programs bring blood pressure monitoring and education to members of the community where they are, whether that’s at the barbershop, church or local grocery store, and connect participants to a healthcare facility if needed.
Education and Training
Through the Provider Education Network, Well-Ahead provides a variety of education and training opportunities to healthcare professionals on topics such as improving heart disease prevention and management.
Population Health Cohort
Through the Population Health Cohort, Well-Ahead provides coaching to care teams on implementing evidence-based strategies for heart disease prevention and management. Plus, participating clinics get exclusive access to a customized platform for data management and bi-directional e-referrals.
Quality Improvement
Well-Ahead partners with healthcare facilities to implement policy changes and expanded services to enhance the quality of care for residents with high blood pressure. This happens through a variety of strategies and tactics such as team-based care, blood pressure monitoring programs, medication therapy management, telehealth and building data dashboards.
Screening, Testing and Referral
Protocols for early detection of high blood pressure and referral to evidence-based programs should be a standard of care in all clinical settings. Well-Ahead supports care teams in implementing systems to identify residents at increased risk for heart disease and refer them to evidence-based programs.
WellSpot Designation
By becoming a WellSpot, organizations across the state are creating healthy spaces and places where our residents can build habits to help prevent and manage heart disease.
WISEWOMAN
WISEWOMAN, Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation, helps women understand and reduce their risk for heart disease through free screenings. We then pair those who are at risk for heart disease with a support system of lifestyle programs and health coaches.
Citations
1 CDC, WISQARS Leading Cause of Death Reports, 2017. https://www.heart.org/-/media/files/about-us/policy-research/fact-sheets/quality-systems-of-care/quality-systems-of-care-louisiana.pdf?la=en https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf
2 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2019.
Success Stories
Helping children form healthy habits impacts the future health of our communities, one-step at a time.
Hardtner Medical Center’s Pharmacist Enhances Chronic Care Management Team
Hardtner Medical Center in Olla recently brought their pharmacist into the Center’s Chronic Care Management team to better serve their at-risk chronic care patients. Chronic Care Management (CCM) is a set of coordinated services provided outside of regular office visits to Medicare patients with at least two chronic conditions. Hardtner established a CCM program for …
Take the Lead in Helping Your Community Members Monitor their Blood Pressure: Well-Ahead Louisiana is Here to Help!
According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of all the adults in the United States have high blood pressure, and many don’t even know they have it. Known as the “silent killer,” high blood pressure often comes without symptoms and can be a significant factor to heart attack, stroke or other health threats. Well-Ahead …
Well-Ahead Louisiana’s Population Health Cohort Gets a Shout Out from the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association recently praised Well-Ahead Louisiana’s Population Health Cohort for submitting heart disease data for their Target: BP™ project. Nine of the 13 Rural Health Clinics participating in the Cohort registered and participated in Target: BP, which was encouraged but not required as part of their participation. Target: BP™ is a national initiative …