Healthy Hearts in Manufacturing (HHM)

What is HHM?

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and contributes more than $320 billion annually in health care costs and lost productivity. Manufacturing communities have significantly higher rates of smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, and cardiovascular deaths compared to other communities. Similarly, manufacturing employment is associated with higher rates of hypertension and smoking.

Many large manufacturers provide health services to employees, spouses, dependents, and retirees through worksite health clinics, particularly in areas where there are shortages of primary care providers. Given their potential reach into manufacturing communities, worksite health clinics are well-positioned to address deficiencies in small and rural communities.  
 
Healthy Hearts in Manufacturing (HHM) is a national project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It aims to use health clinics to improve cardiovascular health for manufacturing workers and their family members.

What Will HHM Do?

Twelve randomly selected worksite clinics will be assigned a dedicated practice coach, a nurse with expertise in quality improvement, who will work alongside clinic staff to implement evidence-based best practices from the CDC’s Million Hearts campaign. The coach will assist the clinic teams with implementation of the interventions, including:

• Leveraging existing electronic health record data to identify undiagnosed hypertension “Hiding in Plain Sight,”

• Employing an “Ask-Advise-Connect” opt-out Tobacco Cessation program, and

• Improving clinic workflows for accurate blood pressure measurement and treatment.

The HHM evaluation team will assess whether HHM improves hypertension control and tobacco screening and cessation. They will also estimate the number of heart attacks and strokes prevented and the potential healthcare savings to participating companies and Medicare.

Why is HHM Important?

HHM will serve as an innovative pilot that utilizes worksite health clinics as a means to improve care for a hard-to-reach, disproportionally rural population with high rates of smoking and chronic illness. It will also be one of the first efforts to report on quality measures from worksite health clinics. Results may reveal an economically sustainable quality improvement strategy to address heart health for an at-risk population. The study will produce findings, tools, materials, and lessons that could aid other efforts to implement evidence-based quality improvement in worksite health clinics.   

For More Information:

Megan McHugh, PhD
Principal Investigator
Contact: megan-mchugh@northwestern.edu