CClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06948838BHEATUpdated Sep 30, 2026

Improving Hypertension Control in Safety-Net Settings: The Boston Hypertension Equity Alliance in Treatment

An interventional study of RBPM and MII in Hypertension and Hypertension Complicated, sponsored by Boston Medical Center. Recruiting at 7 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-30.

Sponsored by Boston Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
16,895
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

High blood pressure (BP) or hypertension (HTN) affects over 100 million individuals in the US, increasing the risk of adverse outcomes, including stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Effective therapies include non-pharmacologic approaches and multiple medication classes. Successful HTN management requires ongoing patient engagement for BP monitoring and treatment intensification. Reaching this goal is challenging, and many patients with HTN do not have controlled BP.

Using a collaborative partnership between patients, clinicians, health system and public health stakeholders, and the research team the investigators plan to overcome barriers to widespread implementation of evidence-based health system strategies to improve BP control in a large, urban, primary care-based safety-net setting for diverse populations experiencing disparities in HTN-related outcomes.

Read the detailed description

A hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation study will be implemented to evaluate the comparative impact of each intervention on clinical outcomes while also assessing implementation at each site. The multi-site cluster randomized stepped-wedge design allows for feasible resource allocation and sequential roll out of the interventions for comparison, ensuring each site has the opportunity to benefit from both approaches. Data will be collected for multiple patient reported outcomes (PROs) to understand the range of impacts of the interventions from the patient perspective.

The specific aims are to:

  • Assess comparative effectiveness of remote BP monitoring (RBPM) versus RBPM + multilevel intensification intervention (MII) on HTN control and quality of care. Prior research has demonstrated the effectiveness of each of these interventions yet the optimal approach to achieve equity in HTN control in safety net practices remains unknown.
  • Use mixed methods, guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, to assess implementation of the two comparators as measured by reach, adoption, implementation (fidelity) and maintenance. Using a convergent parallel design, the investigators will use concurrent quantitative and qualitative data to obtain perspectives across multiple levels to understand the reasons for success or failure of implementation of each comparator. By merging these data, integration can be achieved by using qualitative themes related to implementation to support or refute quantitative findings of reach and fidelity.
  • Evaluate the comparative impacts of each intervention on PROs assessed with validated measures of patient activation, medication adherence, and trust in medical settings. The study intervention approaches were informed by direct feedback from the targeted diverse patients and clinical providers to address patient-reported barriers to HTN control: lack of activation, adherence to medications, and trust in their care providers.
02

Conditions studied

  • Hypertension
  • Hypertension Complicated

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Remote blood pressure monitoring (RBPM)
  • HTN management
  • HTN-related outcomes
  • Evidence-based health system strategies
  • Hybrid effectiveness-implementation study
  • PROs
  • Diverse urban area
  • Disparities
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Adult (age>18) patients receiving primary care at one of the 9 participating sites, with primary care provider (PCP) visit in the preceding year
  • Presence of HTN defined by one or more of: 1) diagnosis included on active problem list, 2) active HTN medications in prior year, 3) 3 separate elevated BP measurements
  • Uncontrolled HTN defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP)>140

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not meeting the inclusion criteria
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Health services research
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
16,895 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Remote Blood Pressure Monitoring (RBPM)

    Individual level interventions fo monitor blood pressure.

    Behavioral: RBPM

  • Experimental
    Multilevel Intensification interventions (MII)

    Team-based interventions to mitigate clinical inertia which is the lack of intensification of treatment despite inadequate disease control such as for HTN.

    Behavioral: RBPM · Other: MII

Interventions

  • BehavioralRBPM

    Standardized blood pressure measurement and treatment protocols in clinical practice.

  • OtherMII

    Team-based interventions including multiple evidence-proven interventions such as clinician decision support, monitoring medication non-adherence, use of combination pills, and formulary modifications.

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) improvement

    Change in BP abstracted from the electronic health record (EHR).

    Time frame: Baseline, every 3 months up to 54 months

  2. Interventions received

    The number and proportion of individuals who receive each intervention.

    Time frame: Baseline, 54 months

  3. Patient activation

    Patient activation will be assessed with the Consumer Health Activation index (CHAI), a 10 item validated instrument that generates a score of 0-100, with ≥80 indicating moderate/high activation.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Blood pressure control

    Assessed as Yes/No from EHR records for Systolic BP\<140 mmHg and Systolic BP\<130 mmHg.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

  2. Medication intensification

    Assessed from EHR and claims data.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

  3. BP monitoring

    Assessed by EHR data on the frequency of BP monitoring.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

  4. Fidelity of interventions

    The number and proportion of individuals who receive all key elements of the interventions based on EHR data.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

  5. Medication adherence

    the 3-item self-report scale by Wilson will be used to assess this outcome. It queries patients about how many days they missed medications and overall consistency over the last 30 days. This measure has been standardized to a 0-100 scale, with good adherence defined as ≥80.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

  6. Trust in primary care

    Assessed with the 10 item Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale. The scale uses a 5-point Likert scale \[1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree\]. Total scores can range from 10 to 50, and higher scores represent greater trust.

    Time frame: Baseline, 18 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 54 months

06

Study locations

7 of 7 sites recruiting
  • Boston Healthcare for the Homeless (BHCHP)
    Boston, Massachusetts 02118, United States
    Recruiting
  • Boston Medical Center Family Medicine
    Boston, Massachusetts 02118, United States
    Recruiting
  • Boston Medical Center, General Internal Medicine primary care
    Boston, Massachusetts 02118, United States
    Recruiting
  • Neighborhood Health
    Boston, Massachusetts 02118, United States
    Recruiting
  • Mattapan Community Health Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02126, United States
    Recruiting
  • Manet Community Health Center
    Quincy, Massachusetts 02169, United States
    Recruiting
  • Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center (GRMDC)
    Roslindale, Massachusetts 02131, United States
    Recruiting
07

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06948838
Lead sponsor
Boston Medical Center
Collaborators
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), Boston Medical Center General Internal Medicine primary care (BMC GIM), Boston Medical Center Family Medicine Primary Care (BMC FM), NeighborHealth Center Family Medicine at Maverick Street (NH FM), NeighborHealth Center Internal Medicine at Gove Street (NH IM), NeighborHealth South End (NH South End), Manet Community Health Center (Maner CHC), Mattapan Community Health Center (Mattapan), Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center (GRMDC), Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), BUSPH Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center (BEDAC)
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 29, 2025
Start date
Sep 8, 2025
Primary completion
Sep 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 30, 2026

Study contacts

Michael Fischer, MD MS
Contact
Michael.Fischer@bmc.org
(617) 414-7288
Justine Scott, MPH
Contact
Justine.Scott@bmc.org
(617) 414-7288
Michael Fischer, MD MS
principal investigator · Boston Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Cheryl Clark, MD ScD
principal investigator · Institute for Health Equity Research, Evaluation & Policy, MA League of CHCs

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion