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Giant Eagle reduces pressure with blood pressure kiosks

August 10, 2016

The supermarket chain Giant Eagle is rolling out blood pressure kiosks to more than 200 locations. Giant Eagle will deploy the PharmaSmart kiosks in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia, according to a press release.

The deployment is part of an effort to drive Medicare Star Ratings objectives, particularly for measures D-14 (Medication Adherence for Hypertension), and C-19 (Controlling Blood Pressure), both of which are of high interest to national and regional insurers.

"We agree with the CDC, which recently announced that controlling blood pressure is the single most important thing Americans can do to improve their health outcomes," said Mark Doer, senior vice president of pharmacy and health and wellness at Giant Eagle. "For us this is more than just deploying new kiosks. With the PharmaSmart program, Giant Eagle now offers our patients a clinically valid solution for blood pressure management, including full integration into our Rx Software, and consumer website. PharmaSmart’s software allows us to easily intervene in cases where blood pressure control is not achieved, and we have the data to demonstrate our impact on blood pressure control rates over a managed population."

"In the U.S., 65 percent of all diagnosed cases of hypertension are not under control. We are thrilled to be working with Giant Eagle pharmacists and health and wellness specialists to target and treat uncontrolled hypertension," said Ashton Maaraba, PharmaSmart COO and head of trade relations. "We are looking forward to working closely with the Giant Eagle Supermarkets as they continue to demonstrate excellence toward advancing both their health and wellness and clinical agenda."