In addition, the Champions assisted in: Identifying appropriate disciplines of individuals to be included as part of the Work Group Directing and coordinating the Work Group Participating throughout the guideline development and review processes The VA Office of Quality, Safety and Value, in collaboration with the Office of Evidence Based Practice, U.S. Army Medical Command, the proponent for CPGs for the DoD, identified four clinical leaders, William Cushman, MD and Dan Berlowitz, MD, MPH from the VA and CDR Travis E. Harrell, MD, FACC, FACP and CDR Mark P. Tschanz, DO, MACM, FACP from the DoD, as Champions for the 2020 VA/DoD HTN CPG. The Lewin Team, including The Lewin Group, Duty First Consulting, ECRI Institute, Sigma Health Consulting, and Anjali Jain Research & Consulting, was contracted by the VA and DoD to support the development of this CPG and conduct the evidence review. The first conference call was held in October 2018, with participation from the contracting officer s representative (COR), leaders from the VA Office of Quality, Safety and Value and the DoD Office of Evidence Based Practice, and the Champions. During this call, participants discussed the scope of the guideline initiative, the roles and responsibilities of the Champions, the project timeline, and the approach for developing and prioritizing specific research questions on which to base a systematic review (SR) about the diagnosis and management of HTN. The group also identified a list of clinical specialties and areas of expertise that are important and relevant to the management of HTN, from which Work Group members were recruited. The specialties and clinical areas of interest included: internal medicine, family medicine, nephrology, cardiology, nutrition, nursing, and pharmacy. The guideline development process for the 2020 VA/DoD HTN CPG update consisted of the following steps: 1. 