Table 1.

Examples of cost-saving or cost-effective interventions to improve blood pressure control

Recommended strategy from the Surgeon General’s Call-to-Action to Control Hypertension	Intervention	Cost savings or cost-effectiveness
Promote access to and availability of physical activity opportunities and healthy food options within communities	Dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet: diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts. Only recommends a small amount of red meat, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages, and low levels of total and saturated fat and cholesterol.30	AUS $12,000 per disability-adjusted life year among adults utilizing the DASH diet.
Advance the use of standardized treatment approaches and guideline-recommended care	Expanding antihypertensive medication treatment to previously untreated adults according to the 2014 hypertension guidelines.36	Expanding antihypertensive medication treatment to previously untreated adults resulted in 6,000–26,000 less CVD events and $149,000–1,640,000 in cost savings over a 10-year time horizon, depending on treatment scenario.
Promote the use of healthcare teams to manage hypertension	Utilizing pharmacists to help improve blood pressure (BP) management (i.e., improve medication adherence and adjust medication regimens) among patients with persistently uncontrolled BP.40	Could result in cost savings for Medicare of approximately $900 million over 5 years.
Empower and equip patients to use self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring and medication adherence strategies	SMBP with additional support vs. usual care.42	The median costs per quality-adjusted life year for SMBP with additional support ranged from $2,800 to $4,000.

Abbreviation: CVD, cardiovascular disease.