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Recognizing high blood pressure (BP) as the most prevalent cardiovascular risk factor in patients with rheumatic diseases and all adults, experts recommend clinic protocols to improve BP control. The aim of this study was to adapt and implement a specialty clinic protocol, “BP Connect,” to improve timely primary care follow‐up after high BP measurements in rheumatology clinics.

We examined BP Connect in a 6‐month preimplementation and postimplementation quasi‐experimental design with 24‐month follow‐up in 3 academic rheumatology clinics. Medical assistants and nurses were trained to 1) check (re‐measuring BPs ≥140/90 mm Hg), 2) advise (linking rheumatic and cardiovascular diseases), and 3) connect (timely [<4 weeks] primary care follow‐up using protocoled electronic health record [EHR] orders). We used EHR data and multivariable logistic regression analysis to examine …