MOVED! December WWC Health Improvement Team (HIT) Call

In order to avoid conflicts with the upcoming holidays, the December WWC HIT Call has been moved from December 21 to December 13, 2017 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. During the December HIT call we will focus on closing-out current WWC Clinical Services and Care Coordination contracts (since most agencies will begin new contracts under the Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Program on January 1, 2018), including eCaST data entry for services provided on or before December 31, 2017. The WWC calendar on the website has been updated to reflect this date change.

To gain access, go to https://stateofcolorado.centurylinkccc.com/CenturylinkWeb/WWC. Click on the "Guest" tab, enter your name, and email address. Century Link will prompt you to provide a phone number to join the webinar, however you will still need to call 1-877-820-7831 and enter pass code: 335241# (Press # after the pass code) for audio.

Spend, Spend, and Spend! 

Clinical services, care coordination and additional funding contracts end on December 31, 2017.  Many agencies are not reaching their screening goals.  

Continue to screen as many eligible women over the next few weeks.

Also, a reminder you must order and receive your additional items by December 31.  If you have any questions, please contact your Program Coordinator.

WISEWOMAN

New National Hypertension Guidelines Released 

High blood pressure should be treated earlier with lifestyle changes and in some patients with medication - at 130/80 mm Hg rather than 140/90 – according to the first comprehensive new high blood pressure guidelines in more than a decade. The guidelines are being published by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) for detection, prevention, management and treatment of high blood pressure.

Rather than 1 in 3 U.S. adults having high blood pressure (32 percent) with the previous definition, the new guidelines will result in nearly half of the U.S. adult population (46 percent) having high blood pressure.
 
The new guidelines eliminate the category of prehypertension, which was used for patients with systolic blood pressure between 120-139 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure between 80-89 mm Hg. People with those readings now will be categorized as having either Elevated (120-129 and less than 80) or Stage I hypertension (130-139 or 80-89). 

The new guidelines also stress the importance of using proper technique to measure blood pressure. Blood pressure levels should be based on an average of two to three readings on at least two different occasions.

Colorado WISEWOMAN does not anticipate any immediate changes to programmatic requirements based on the new guidelines.  However, expectations for future grant cycles may be impacted.  Agencies are encouraged to consider these guidelines when determining internal policies on hypertension screening and follow-up. 

For more information on the new guidelines, please see the statement released by the American Heart Association or the article in MedPage Today.