State Partners & Health Professionals | Vermont Department of Health CLOSE Translations for you State Partners & Health Professionals Heart Disease Individuals, Families & Heart Disease Women and Heart Disease State Partners & Health Professionals Blood Pressure Monitors for Medicaid Members If you’re a Medicaid member with high blood pressure you may qualify for a FREE at-home blood pressure monitor, paid by Medicaid. Talk to your doctor or health care provider. Ask for a prescription for a blood pressure monitor. Pick it up at a participating pharmacy. Why should I track my blood pressure? Monitoring your blood pressure is important to see how your heart is doing. It can show you if there are any problems early on and help avoid a heart attack or a stroke. Heart Disease in Vermont Heart disease, also called cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the second leading cause of death in Vermont. Almost half of Americans and over half of Vermonters have at least one of the key risk factors for CVD: High blood pressure (hypertension) •    High blood cholesterol Smoking Other health conditions and behaviors that can lead to CVD are: Diabetes Overweight and obesity Poor diet Physical inactivity Excessive alcohol use For a complete look at CVD in Vermont, including prevalence, geographic distribution, hospitalization trends, mortality, co-morbidities, chronic disease risk factors, and more: Cardiovascular Disease Data Pages Free High Blood Pressure Workshop Go Now Go Now Information for Healthcare Providers What can I do to help my patients? There are many different tools and resources you can use to address CVD risk factors in your patient population. As you know, the preventable risk factors for CVD are: Risk factors that can be changed: High blood pressure High blood cholesterol Diabetes and prediabetes Smoking Being overweight or obese Being physically inactive Unhealthy diet Vermont Hypertension Toolkit This comprehensive resource was created by the Vermont Department of Health, Vermont Blueprint for Health, One Care Vermont, University of Vermont Medical Center and the New England Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization in 2017. It can be used by providers and clinical professionals to identify and manage hypertension in patient populations. Million Hearts is a great resource for health care providers and other professionals who want to address the preventable risk factors and better identify and manage CVD in their patient populations. The Million Hearts undiagnosed Hypertension video is a useful resource to learn about identifying patients with hypertension who have not been diagnosed. Hiding in Plain Sight is a JAMA article on Undiagnosed Hypertension (JAMA. 2014;312(19):1973-1974. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.15388 Study: Underdiagnosis of Hypertension using electronic health records Am J Hypertens. 2012 Jan; 25(1): 97–102. The links below provide information on the following subjects: Medication adherence Creating a hypertension protocol Self-measured blood pressure monitoring More resources for health professionals Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Heart Disease website: fact sheets, data and statistics, maps, reports, guidelines and recommendations, training resources National Institutes of Health (NIH) study on intensive blood pressure management Hypertension Change Package Women and Heart Disease You First (formerly Ladies First) - Providers Summary of Chronic Disease Care in Vermont Pharmacy Settings Survey Resources for patients and clients Consider referring these resources to your patients: American Heart Association (AHA) Cholesterol Guide My Life Check – Life’s Essential 8 You First (formerly Ladies First) The American Heart Association's Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations - Making Habits Stick Topics: Chronic Disease Heart Health Resources for Physicians July 8, 2025