What CBP is
CBP stands for Controlling High Blood Pressure. It is the HEDIS measure, maintained by NCQA, that reports the percentage of members 18 to 85 with a diagnosis of hypertension whose blood pressure was adequately controlled, defined as a most-recent reading below 140/90 mm Hg, during the measurement year.
The diagnosis has to be established early, within the first six months of the year, for a member to be in the denominator. What lands in the numerator is the single most recent blood pressure reading on record for that member during the year.
Why CBP matters
CBP is a clinical quality measure in Medicare Star Ratings, so its rate contributes to the quality bonus payments and rebates CMS pays Medicare Advantage plans. Hypertension is also one of the most common chronic conditions in the Medicare population, so the denominator is large and the measure moves the overall score.
CBP is a hybrid measure, scored from a combination of administrative claims and medical-record review, which makes capturing the most recent in-range reading a chart-and-data exercise. NCQA has introduced an ECDS successor, BPC-E (Blood Pressure Control for Patients With Hypertension), that broadens the denominator with pharmacy and claims data and accepts remote and self-measured readings; teams running CBP today should plan for that transition.
How CBP is scored
The denominator is members 18 to 85 with a hypertension diagnosis established in the first six months of the measurement year. The numerator is those whose most recent blood pressure reading during the year is below 140/90 mm Hg.
Only the most recent reading counts, so a controlled reading later in the year overwrites an earlier uncontrolled one. Under the current hybrid CBP measure, that reading comes from claims and medical-record review; member-reported and remote readings become eligible under the ECDS successor measure, BPC-E.
Exclusions include end-stage renal disease or dialysis, a kidney transplant, pregnancy during the year, non-acute inpatient stays, hospice, and, for members 66 and older, frailty with advanced illness.
Common mistakes teams make with CBP
- Chasing an old uncontrolled reading. Only the most recent reading counts. A member with a high reading in March and a controlled one in October is compliant, and re-working them wastes effort.
- Leaving in-range readings unmapped. CBP is hybrid, so a controlled office reading counts only when it is abstracted from the chart or arrives through claims and encounter data. A reading that stays in the EHR unmapped leaves the gap open.
- Missing the diagnosis window. Hypertension has to be on the record in the first six months to land a member in the denominator. Late coding can leave eligible members untracked.
- Recording a reading without re-checking control. A single elevated office reading should prompt a repeat measurement; documenting only the elevated value scores the member as uncontrolled when they may not be.
How Pelica handles CBP
Pelica's Quality and Stars Copilot tracks CBP at the member level on one canonical record, surfaces members whose most recent reading is still uncontrolled while time remains, and maps in-range readings from claims and chart data into the measure so the gap reflects the member's real status. It is built for the move to the ECDS successor, BPC-E, which adds pharmacy-driven denominators and remote readings. Across Pelica deployments, customers improve quality gap closure by 41%.
Related terms
CBP sits inside the HEDIS and Stars framework. See ECDS for the reporting standard its successor measure BPC-E uses, KED and EED for the diabetes companion measures, and cut points for how a control rate becomes a star.