Treating Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure Would Annually Save 77,000 Seniors’ Lives, New Study Shows

If you are a Maine senior, it is important to check your blood pressure regularly and to ask your doctor if medications might be needed. A new national study shows that senior citizens in Maine and throughout the U.S. – the age group most likely to have hypertension – could benefit considerably from prescription medicines that treat high blood pressure.

Free blood pressure screenings are offered throughout the state on a regular basis. (See the chart at the end of this release for some upcoming screenings that are free and open to the public.)

The study, conducted by actuaries and clinicians from the independent actuarial firm, Milliman, Inc., found that using prescription medicines to treat hypertension among untreated and under treated Medicare beneficiaries would save 77,000 lives a year nationally by avoiding heart attacks and strokes.

“Hypertension puts the lives of our seniors and millions of U.S. seniors and other ages at risk,” said Alan F. Holmer, President and CEO, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which commissioned the study. “This study shows how important the appropriate use of prescription medicines could be in saving over 77,000 lives a year. By avoiding heart attacks and strokes, fewer Medicare beneficiaries would be admitted to hospitals and nursing homes, and more could live longer, more independent lives.”

The Milliman study finds that, beginning in 2006 with the initiation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, active and continuous drug treatment of 19 million untreated and under treated beneficiaries suffering from hypertension would result annually in:

• No additional health care costs
  
• 115,000 fewer cases of stroke
  
• 106,000 fewer cases of coronary artery disease (heart attack)
  
• 77,000 fewer deaths
  
• 46,000 fewer skilled-nursing facility admissions
  
• 4,000 fewer long-term care facility placements

“This study demonstrates how spending on medicines can have a large and favorable impact on seniors' health, while achieving savings on Medicare's hospital and other costs. Our estimates of benefits to patients and savings are conservative, in part because we focused only on avoiding stroke and cardiac events. Efforts to get more people to treat their hypertension would also help avoid other expensive conditions linked to high blood pressure, such as kidney failure and blindness,” said Bruce Pyenson, co-author of the Milliman study.

The Milliman study joins a growing list of reports— including last year’s RAND Health study — showing that hypertension is under treated with medicines. This under treatment even among insured patients emphasizes the need to build aggressive outreach strategies.

Hypertension puts millions of seniors at risk annually. One in four Americans now has hypertension. Currently, two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have hypertension. Thirty percent are unaware of their condition and 37 percent are aware but not treated. Among ethnic groups, African-Americans have the highest prevalence of hypertension, followed by non-Hispanic white and Mexican-American populations.

This analysis illustrates the importance of taking a broad, integrated view of the Medicare drug benefit that accounts for how the benefit impacts the overall health of patients and overall Medicare spending. To reduce the number of people suffering from hypertension and its effects, outreach and patient education are essential.

Additionally, the new Medicare prescription drug benefit provides an important opportunity to help address under treatment of hypertension. Other aspects of the Medicare prescription drug law that also can help are the Chronic Care Initiative and requirements that encourage insurers, as part of the drug benefit itself, to address under use of medicines.

“Controlling Hypertension Among Medicare Beneficiaries: Saving Lives without Additional Costs,” is available at: www.phrma.org./publications/policy/23.08.2005.1042.cfm

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA members invested an estimated $33.2 billion in 2003 in discovering and developing new medicines. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures.

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PhRMA Internet Address: www.phrma.org

Maine Resources

City of Portland Blood Pressure Screenings

India Street Health Station
103 India Street, Portland, Maine
Fridays: 9:30 am to 10:00 am
Please call to make sure we are open
For more information: 207-874-8784

Reiche Health Station
166 Brackett Street, Portland, Maine (Reiche School)
Please call for day and time
For more information: (207) 874-8784

Maine Medical Center
www.mmc.org/mmc_heart/hypertension.htm

Martin’s Point Health Care is offering free blood pressure screenings 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 4, Nov. 8 and Dec. 13 at the Martin’s Point Health Education Center, 331 Veranda Street, in Portland. No registration is required and persons are encouraged to stop by to receive a screening and educational materials.

State of Maine DHS heart health website:
www.maine.gov/dhs/boh/hmp/cardiovascularhealth.htm

Maine Coast Memorial Hospital, 29 Union Street, Ellsworth
Health-Link every Monday and Thursday morning, from 9 a.m. to noon. (207) 667-2474