Controlling Blood Pressure for People with Diabetes
2024-25 Edition
Why is it important to control blood pressure if you have diabetes?
Diabetes increases your risk for high blood pressure and heart disease. High blood pressure makes the heart work harder and it can lead to heart disease, stroke, and kidney damage.
How should doctors help control blood pressure?
Doctors should work with you to control your blood pressure. Doctors can help in many ways. They can help you plan to eat food with little or no salt, maintain a healthy weight, stay physically active, and stop smoking. Blood pressure for people with diabetes is normal when it is below 140/90. If your blood pressure is above normal, doctors can also order medicine that will help lower it.
Talk with your doctor and health plan to find out about what other services are available. Many health plans offer additional support and resources for patients with diabetes who want to better control their blood pressure. These additional services may be educational materials (online and in print), classes or support groups, home blood pressure monitoring, or phone counseling.
What do the stars mean?
The scores show how well each health plan did at making sure patients 18 to 75 years of age with diabetes (types 1 and 2) had blood pressure levels below 140/90, which indicates good control. A higher score means more patients got the right care at the right time.
The scores are based on information from at least 30 health plan member administrative records in 2023. Some plans also use patient medical records, which are often more complete and result in higher scores. Plans that decide not to use medical records are likely to have lower scores.
Data Disclaimer
The data source for data for the Report Cards is Quality Compass® 2024 and is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Quality Compass® 2024 includes Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) data. Any data display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion based on these data is solely that of the authors. NCQA specifically disclaims responsibility for any such display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion. Quality Compass and HEDIS are registered trademarks of NCQA. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Users of the data shall not have the right to alter, enhance, or otherwise modify the data. Anyone who wants to use or reproduce the data without modification for a noncommercial purpose may do so without obtaining any approval from NCQA. All commercial uses must be approved by NCQA and are subject to a license at the discretion of NCQA. Use by healthcare providers in connection with their own practices is not commercial use. A "commercial use" refers to any sale, license, or distribution of the data for commercial gain, or incorporation of the data into any product or service that is sold, licensed, or distributed for commercial gain, even if there is no actual charge for inclusion of the data. ©2004-2024 National Committee for Quality Assurance, all rights reserved.