National Quality Forum (NQF) Measure 18 is a clinical quality measure endorsed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance since 2009. NQF 18 is defined as “The percentage of patients 18–85 years of age who had a diagnosis of hypertension and whose blood pressure was adequately controlled (<140/90) during the measurement year” (excludes all patients: 1) with evidence of end-stage renal disease on or prior to the end of the measurement year; 2) with a diagnosis of pregnancy during the measurement year; 3) who had an admission to a non-acute inpatient setting during the measurement year).

This measure is related to work funded by CDC cooperative agreements called the State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health (CDC-1305; SHAPE grant) and and Improving the Health of Americans Through Prevention and Management of Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Stroke (CDC-1815).

CDC-1305 activities began in July of 2013 and concluded in September of 2018. Grant funds were provided to eHealthConnecticut (Regional Extension Center) to work with health care systems to track NQF 18 and initiate quality improvement strategies.

CDC-1815 activities began in the Fall of 2018 and will conclude in June 2023.  As part of these activities, three federally-qualified health centers report NQF 18 data to the Deparment of Public Health.

These data are current as of February2, 2023.  New data will be available in the Spring of 2024.

eHealthConnecticut (Regional Extension Center) - Working with health care systems to track NQF 18, initiate quality improvement strategies and establish Self-Blood Pressure Monitoring (SBPM) policy;

Health Care Systems - Working with electronic health records (EHR) systems to track NQF 18 and initiate quality improvement strategies

From the National Quality Strategy:
Public and private stakeholders have worked hard to create accurate measurements for health care services quality. However, those efforts have relied largely on incomplete data generated from claims or patients’ charts after an encounter with the health care system. Valid, reliable measures are the cornerstone of monitoring quality improvement efforts. In order to achieve the quality improvements envisioned by the National Quality Strategy, data on care delivery and outcomes should be measured using consistent, nationally-endorsed measures in order to provide information that is timely, actionable, and meaningful to both providers and patients.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health partnered with the Regional Extension Center (eHealthConnecticut) to develop a process for selected health care systems to create reports on National Quality Forum 18 to be used for quality improvement initiatives.