Heart Disease
Heart disease is Wisconsin's top killer. Let's change that together.
Heart disease refers to conditions that affect the heart's functioning and blood flow to it. The most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease (coronary heart disease).
Coronary artery disease occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart harden and narrow, a process called atherosclerosis. This results in less blood flow to the heart and is the usual cause of heart attacks. The good news is that much of this process can be prevented, and you can help.
What you can do
Take charge of your heart health today! Anyone can benefit from participating in heart healthy behaviors. Explore these resources on tips on living a heart-healthy life.
Start your heart health journey with lifestyle changes. Get guidance from your health care provider and use these resources to help you:
- Know your blood pressure numbers. Learn more about healthy and unhealthy blood pressure ranges. Visit the American Heart Association's Understanding Blood Pressure Readings
- Know your cholesterol levels. For more information about what cholesterol is and what your levels mean, visit Control Your Cholesterol and Check. Change. Control. Cholesterol
- Understand your blood glucose (sugar) levels. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Visit Know Your Numbers - Know Diabetes by Heart to learn more
- Get active and eat nutritious foods to maintain a healthy weight. Find help in our index of public resources supporting physical activity and nutrition
- Don't smoke or get the help you need to quit. Visit the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line or call 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669) for free access to coaching and medication to help you quit.
You can get blood pressure measurements between your medical appointments. Monitoring and knowing your blood pressure helps you maintain a healthy lifestyle. It also helps you understand your risks. People who did home blood pressure monitoring experienced better blood pressure control according to a 2018 Harvard Medical School study.
There may be locations in your community where you can have you blood pressure checked at no cost. Ask your health care provider, pharmacist, or local health department for a list of places near you.
You may decide to get a blood pressure monitor for home use. Work with your care team members to determine what will work best for you. The American Heart Association has online tips for taking your blood pressure at home.
The Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging offers Living Well with Chronic Conditions. This program supports people with high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, depression, and obesity. Learn more at the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging website.
The Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging offers Living Well with Chronic Conditions. This program supports people with high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, depression, and obesity. Learn more at the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging website.
Be an active part in your own care. Before your medical visit, think about health problems to talk about with your provider. Write down your health history. Make a list of your medications. Those items can help you and your provider communicate.
If you don't understand something, ask questions. Bring a family member or trusted friend to your appointments for support and to take notes.
Some health systems offer online health portals that connect to electronic health records. These portals may also allow you to communicate with your providers. You can use it to track progress to your goals and communicate with your care team.
Follow your doctor's instructions to take your medication to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. Always ask questions if you don't understand something.
Request a comprehensive medication review from your pharmacist. They review all the medications you are taking to make sure that they work well together. Have the pharmacist explain how your medications work to maintain your heart health.
Partners and initiatives
The Wisconsin Heart Health Alliance is a coalition working to improve heart health statewide. The group meets virtually three times a year. Meetings include discussions of success stories and best practices from heart health experts.
We welcome individuals and organizations to join us. Email DHSChronicDiseasePrevention@dhs.wisconsin.gov for details.
Implementing Heart Health Collaboratives support reductions in heart disease
Heart disease is a major challenge in Wisconsin, but we're taking action. Partnering with organizations statewide, we drive innovative heart disease prevention efforts funded by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Learn about the initiatives and resources we're implementing to help Wisconsinites combat the devastating toll of heart disease.
Our Heart Health Learning Collaboratives focus on addressing heart health for people at greatest risk, ensuring better health for all. To best meet the need of Wisconsin residents, our learning collaboratives:
- Increase awareness and use of support resources to improve overall health
- Improve blood pressure and cholesterol control as a way to reduce heart disease risk
- Reduce the differences in how heart health impacts communities across the state
Many of our learning collaboratives operate under the National Cardiovascular Health Program, including:
- Brown County Heart Health Collaborative
- Rural Heart Health Collaborative
- Free and Charitable Clinic Heart Health Collaborative
- Community Pharmacy Heart Health Triads
The Milwaukee Heart Health Learning Collaborative is part of the Innovative Cardiovascular Health Program.
Many health systems use electronic health records and health information technology to measure and track clinical quality measures.
As part of our effort to improve cardiovascular health across the state, we promote the adoption of standardized clinical quality measures to prevent and manage heart disease and related conditions, like high blood pressure and cholesterol. These measures help to improve monitoring of health and health care disparities among populations and inform activities to eliminate them.
Read Guidance for Tracking and Monitoring Key Clinical Measures for Groups with Hypertension and High Cholesterol, P-03703 (PDF), to learn about recommendations for pulling and utilizing this data and implementing quality improvement initiatives to improve hypertension (HTN) and high blood cholesterol (HBC).
Self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring involves an individual's regular use of personal blood pressure monitoring devices to assess and record blood pressure across different points in time outside of a clinical setting. There is strong evidence that SMBP monitoring with clinical support helps people with hypertension lower their blood pressure. Clinical support should occur before, during, and after a health care appointment, and may include instructing clients on how to measure their blood pressure with a home device, helping individuals with medication access and management, leading their own care, and emotional management. Services should consider individuals' perspectives and be tailored to their needs.
Resources
- Along with the American Heart Association, we promote the use of Check. Change. Control., an evidence-based hypertension management program that utilizes self-measured blood pressure monitoring to empower patients in ownership of their cardiovascular health.
- The Chronic Disease Prevention Unit created Self-Measured Blood Pressure Tool for Wisconsin Health Systems and Clinics (P-03163) to help clinics implement a SMBP program for their patients.
- The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) created a Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) Implementation Toolkit to help organizations implement SMBP successfully into their care processes and workflows. The toolkit will help organizations:
- Determine goals and priority populations
- Align SMBP patient training to their practice environment
- Consider SMBP tasks by staff roles
- Review key features and functionalities for choosing a SMBP data management software solution/technology partner
- Develop an SMBP implementation protocol
Team-based care (TBC) enhances patient care with health care providers working collaboratively.
While treating the patient a multidisciplinary team may:
- provide education
- identify risk factors
- prescribe and modify treatments
- facilitate two-way communication with the patient
Evidence shows that team-based care leads to improved high blood pressure control and better medication compliance.
Medication therapy management
Medication therapy management (MTM) is a distinct service to ensure the best therapeutic outcomes for patients. MTM has been shown to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and improve medication adherence. It includes five core elements:
- Medication therapy review
- Personal medication record
- Medication-related action plan
- Intervention or referral
- Documentation and follow-up
In Wisconsin, MTM is a covered benefit for Medicaid-eligible members. Eligible members receive a comprehensive medical review/assessment (CMR/A). We work closely with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW) and their Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative (WPQC) program to engage pharmacists in the promotion of MTM and lifestyle modification. The PSW provides professional training, toolkits, and technical assistance to 250+ accredited pharmacies and nearly 500 certified pharmacists across Wisconsin.
Resources
- Wisconsin Nurses Association created a model of care to drive health care transformation that moves toward value-based care, better patient health and safety, and improved population health.
- The Chronic Disease Prevention Program created Team-Based Care Tool for Wisconsin Health Systems and Clinics, P-03162 (PDF) to help health systems assess their current practices and identify opportunities to improve.
- CDC Million Hearts® Evidence-based Hypertension Treatment Protocols: Simple, evidence-based protocols can have a powerful impact on hypertension control.
- Hypertension Control: Change Package for Clinicians: A quality improvement tool for ambulatory clinics. (PDF)
- Measure Up Pressure Down™: Provider Toolkit to Improve Hypertension Control (PDF): Useful tools, tips, and resources to jump-start hypertension quality improvement initiatives.
- Improving Chronic Conditions, Hypertension & Diabetes: Care & Outcomes: Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (registration required to download)
- MyHEART: Information & Resources for Young Adults with Hypertension: Resource developed by Dr. Heather Johnson from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to address the unmet need of educating young adults on hypertension.
Social Drivers of Health (SDoH), defined by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are non-medical factors that affect health outcomes. They include the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. SDoH also include the broader forces and systems that shape everyday life conditions.
Screening for SDoH
Screening for SDoHs helps providers understand patients' needs better so they can treat and refer them to appropriate services or supports. As of January 1, 2024, the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) require healthcare organizations to screen for five SDoH:
- Food insecurity
- interpersonal safety
- housing insecurity
- transportation insecurity
- utilities
Resources
- Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) | About CDC
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has tools to help healthcare organizations address SDoH.
Community health workers (CHW) are an important part of Wisconsin's public health and health care systems. They are the bridge that connect people to care and resources to help them be healthy. CHWs are community members with lived experience in overcoming barriers to access, navigating systems, and using resources in the communities they serve. The primary goal of a CHW is to improve health outcomes of people in their communities.
CHWs can be found working in many different places, like health departments, community organizations, hospitals, clinics, and schools. CHWs work under different job titles, including promotores(as) de salud, community health representatives, doulas, neighborhood navigators, patient navigators, and peer educators.
Community health workers (CHW) and heart health
The CDPP promotes the importance and impacts that CHWs have on improving heart health conditions among community members and families across Wisconsin. The following strategies highlight CHWs and heart health promotion throughout the National and Innovative Cardiovascular Disease funding:
- Ensuring CHWs have equitable and appropriate access to electronic health records and documentation databases
- Integrating CHWs as part of multi-sector care teams
- Working with CHWs to address social service needs and improving community-clinical linkages related to hypertension and cholesterol
- Supporting CHW workforce development through training, professional development, and professional networks
- Supporting CHW workforce sustainability through advancing CHW leadership, authentic CHW allyship, and financial sustainability
Resources
- For additional resources and to learn more about other ways to support CHW work in Wisconsin, visit the Community Health Worker Webpage
- Envision Equity – CHW training and technical assistance center