Reducing Inequities in Care of Hypertension, Lifestyle Improvement for Everyone (RICH LIFE Project)

The RICH LIFE Project is a two-armed, cluster-randomized trial, comparing the effectiveness of an enhanced standard of care arm, "Standard of Care Plus" (SCP), to a multi-level intervention, "Collaborative Care/Stepped Care" (CC/SC), in improving blood pressure control, patient activation and reducing disparities in blood pressure control among 1,890 adult patients with uncontrolled hypertension and cardiovascular disease risk factors at thirty primary care practices in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Fifteen practices randomized to the SCP arm receive standardized blood pressure measurement training, and audit and feedback of blood pressure control rates at the practice provider level. Fifteen practices in the CC/SC arm receive all the SCP interventions plus the implementation of the collaborative care model with additional stepped-care components of community health worker referrals and subspecialist curbside consults and an on-going virtual workshop for organizational leaders in quality improvement and disparities reduction. The primary clinical outcomes are the percent of patients with blood pressure \<140/90 mm Hg and change from baseline in mean systolic blood pressure at 12 months. The primary patient reported outcome is change from baseline in self-reported patient activation at 12 months.