Assessment of clinical pharmacist outreach and medication titration in remote patient monitoring program for hypertension

Abstract

In this implementation science study evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of a remote patient monitoring program for hypertension, we found that most, but not all of patients received the intended program components of clinical pharmacist outreach and medication titration. Despite feasibility challenges, remote-patient monitoring for hypertension was effective at reducing systolic blood pressure by ≥ 5 mmHg in (64%) and 346 (71%) patients by 3 and 6 months of enrollment respectively. Unexpectedly, chi-square and multivariate logistic regressions analysis showed that the clinical pharmacist outreach, was not associated with blood pressure improvement, but that patient engagement and medication titration were associated with blood pressure improvement. These results suggest that other unmeasured behavioral and lifestyle changes may be a large driver of BP improvement and that while RPM-HTN is a worthwhile intervention, it may not require all ancillary components to deliver meaningful results.