Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring at Home: A Joint Policy Statement From the American Heart Association and American Medical Association

With doctors’ visits down during the COVID-19 pandemic, new policy statement addresses barriers to implementation of SMBP monitoring Statement Highlights:

• Self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring at home or in a non-clinic setting is an evidence-based approach for hypertension diagnosis and treatment.
• Adding SMBP monitoring to BP measurement in the office is cost-effective when compared to office BP measurement alone among individuals with high office BP.
• Improvements in patient education, provider training, insurance coverage and provider reimbursement, among other measures, would help break down barriers to widespread use of SMBP monitoring.