ST. LOUIS, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly half of all American adults have hypertension, also called chronic high blood pressure, one of the most common and dangerous conditions contributing to heart disease, stroke and other health problems. To enhance and expand evidence-based hypertension care across its communities, Mercy was awarded funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

PCORI is a nonprofit organization with a mission to fund patient-centered clinical effectiveness research (CER) designed to provide patients and those who care for them with evidence to make better-informed health care decisions.

The funding is through a PCORI opportunity supporting participants in its Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII), a multiyear effort focused on advancing high-impact findings from PCORI-funded CER into routine clinical care.

Mercy's project will implement a standardized, team-based hypertension care model shown to improve blood pressure control and patient outcomes. The program builds on Mercy's existing hypertension control clinical standard and embeds proven approaches directly into primary care workflows across the health care system.

Mercy will deploy a systemwide, evidence-based strategy to improve how hypertension is identified, managed and monitored. Key components include:

• Automated identification and referral through the electronic health record to quickly identify adults with uncontrolled blood pressure and refer them to team-based care, replacing largely manual processes
• Standardized, guideline-based treatment protocols that emphasize rapid follow-up, medication optimization and addressing treatment nonadherence
• Team-based care delivery leveraging primary care clinicians, nurses, advanced practice providers and pharmacist-supported workflows to support timely escalation of care when needed
• Lifestyle modification and patient education integrated into hypertension care pathways to support long-term blood pressure control
• Dashboards, monitoring tools and defined standard work to ensure consistent, high-quality hypertension management across participating sites
• A supplemental pilot program focused on proactively identifying patients with previously undiagnosed hypertension and connecting them to appropriate care

"Embedding these evidence–based approaches into routine care enables us to deliver more proactive and consistent hypertension management across Mercy," said Ursula Wright, Mercy chief clinical excellence officer and vice president of care transitions. "The program is designed to identify patients earlier, support timely follow–up and provide ongoing care beyond traditional office visits."

This HSII award enables Mercy to translate proven hypertension research into standard clinical practice at scale, helping reduce cardiovascular risk and improve outcomes for patients across the system. Mercy estimates more than 91,000 patients may be eligible for this enhanced hypertension program during the active implementation period running through 2030.

"This PCORI funding award will support Mercy in delivering clinically meaningful improvements in hypertension management," said PCORI Executive Director Dr. Nakela L. Cook. "This project exemplifies PCORI's commitment to making the results of patient-centered CER more accessible and usable in real-world settings, helping patients, caregivers and the broader health care community make better-informed health care decisions and improve care delivery and outcomes. We look forward to following the project's progress." 

The funding to Mercy has been approved pending completion of PCORI's business and programmatic review and issuance of a formal award contract.  

Mercy previously received funding awards through PCORI's HSII for projects to put in place a new intensive lifestyle treatment program for weight loss, as well as an electronic patient-reported outcomes monitoring program to improve symptom management during cancer care.

Mercy, one of the 15 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation's largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including 55 acute care and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 1,000 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 5,000 physicians and advanced practitioners and more than 50,000 caregivers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2025 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.

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SOURCE Mercy