This case study shows how UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital accomplished that reduction by sending new mothers home with a free blood pressure cuff and access to a remote monitoring portal. Historically, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh, when a patient has been discharged from the hospital and has had a hypertensive disorder during her pregnancy or postpartum period, it recommended follow-up within a week to the primary OB provider for a blood pressure check.Patients are sometimes sent home on new medications or continuing to take a medication they were prescribed during the pregnancy related to hypertension diagnosis. These patients are given instructions and education regarding signs and symptoms that would alert them to call their OB or come back to the emergency department.It has not been a standard of care to ask this population of patients to check their blood pressure regularly and report it back during the weeks following a delivery. Patients experiencing and needing treatment for a hypertensive crisis is the most common reason for readmission to UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.These women also are at an increased risk for developing some type of cardiovascular disease later in life because of the development during their pregnancy. Therefore, follow-up with their primary care physician is a goal that the hospital felt needed to be addressed.

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