Workflow Automation for a Virtual Hypertension Management Program.

Objectives: Hypertension is a modifiable risk factor for numerous comorbidities and treating hypertension can greatly improve health outcomes. We sought to increase the efficiency of a virtual hypertension management program through workflow automation processes.
Methods: We developed a customer relationship management (CRM) solution at our institution for the purpose of improving processes and workflow for a virtual hypertension management program and describe here the development, implementation, and initial experience of this CRM system.
Results: Notable system features include task automation, patient data capture, multi-channel communication, integration with our electronic health record (EHR), and device integration (for blood pressure cuffs). In the five stages of our program (intake and eligibility screening, enrollment, device configuration/setup, medication titration, and maintenance), we describe some of the key process improvements and workflow automations that are enabled using our CRM platform, like automatic reminders to capture blood pressure data and present these data to our clinical team when ready for clinical decision making. We also describe key limitations of CRM, like balancing out-of-the-box functionality with development flexibility. Among our first group of referred patients, 76% (39/51) preferred email as their communication method, 26/51 (51%) were able to enroll electronically, and 63% of those enrolled (32/51) were able to transmit blood pressure data without phone support.
Conclusion: A CRM platform could improve clinical processes through multiple pathways, including workflow automation, multi-channel communication, and device integration. Future work will examine the operational improvements of this health information technology solution as well as assess clinical outcomes.
Competing Interests: W.J.G. reports consulting income from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and Novocardia, Inc., both outside the scope of this work. B.M.S. reports institutional research grants to Brigham and Women's Hospital from AstraZeneca, Eisai, Merck, Novartis, NovoNordisk, and Pfizer and consulting fees from Allergan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, Esperion, Hamni, Lexicon, Medtronic, and NovoNordisk.
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