Home blood pressure monitoring: Take it to the bank

摘要

Forty years ago, to deposit a check, transfer funds, or get cash, a person had to visit a local bank-during weekday business hours-and meet face-to-face with a teller. Today, with Internet banking and automated teller machines, transactions can be made anywhere and anytime. Unlike banking, the approach to hypertension care has changed little in the last 40 years. Patients are expected to make regular visits to a medical office for blood pressure (BP) measurements and in-person meetings with a clinician. In this issue of JAMA, the well-designed and well-executed Home Blood Pressure Tele-monitoring and Case Management to Control Hypertension (Hyperlink) study by Margolis and colleagues1 demonstrates how to improve BP control by making hypertension management more like modern banking: accessible, easy, and convenient.