AMGF announces results, impact of Measure Up/Pressure Down campaign

The American Medical Group Foundation (AMGF) today announced the results and impact of its second annual Measure Up/Pressure Down® National Day of Action: Roll Up Your Sleeves! event. On May 7, during National High Blood Pressure Education Month, more than 140 campaign supporters across the country took an "action" for blood pressure control - including blood pressure screenings, materials dissemination, social media posts, web chats, website content updates, employee trainings, health fairs, and garnering media coverage - reaching 84.3 million Americans.

The Measure Up/Pressure Down® campaign encouraged key stakeholders - including medical groups, health systems, sponsors, partners, and other organizations - to "roll up their sleeves" on the same day in support of improving blood pressure control around the nation. The second year of the observance more than doubled the number of supporters (143) and reached 26 million more Americans than the 2014 event. The expansion efforts were funded by a generous grant from United Health Foundation.

"We challenged our member medical groups, healthcare providers, and other supporters to raise the bar on high blood pressure awareness and control for our second annual National Day of Action. Our impact shows that together, we are making a dramatic difference in the health and well-being of patients with high blood pressure - both throughout our three-year campaign and during this exciting one-day event," says Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Secretary of the AMGF Board of Directors.

The measureable impact of this call to action proved to be widely successful in reaching patients, providers, employees, and others, raising awareness about the importance of blood pressure control. National support and participation enabled Measure Up/Pressure Down® to educate millions of patients with or at risk of high blood pressure and empower these patients to actively manage their own health in conjunction with their healthcare team. The National Day of Action also engaged providers to better detect and treat high blood pressure in their patient populations through trainings, guideline implementation, patient engagement programs, and other evidence-based care processes.

As part of its efforts, Measure Up/Pressure Down® mobilizes medical groups and health systems to achieve the goal of having 80 percent of their patients with high blood pressure under control by 2016. The central mission of the campaign is to encourage medical groups and organized systems of care to adopt one or more evidence-based care processes that lead to measurable improvements in high blood pressure outcomes. Nearly 150 AMGA medical groups and health systems delivering care to more than 42 million patients have joined Measure Up/Pressure Down®. Since launching in 2012, the campaign has improved hypertension detection and/or control for 414,167 patients.

Nearly 50 AMGA members around the country joined the National Day of Action, including: Affinity Medical Group; Arch Health Partners; Atrius Health, Austin Regional Clinic, P.A.; Baptist Memorial Medical Group; Baylor Health Care System/HealthTexas Provider Network; Bend Memorial Clinic, P.C.; Billings Clinic; Brown & Toland Physicians; Carle Physician Group; Colorado Springs Health Partners, P.C.; Esse Health; Essentia Health; The Everett Clinic; Florida Medical Clinic, P.A.; Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin; Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates; Henry Ford Medical Group; INOVA Health System; Intermountain Medical Group; The Iowa Clinic, P.C.; Johns Hopkins University; Clinical Practice Association; Mayo Clinic Health Systems; MedStar Medical Group; Mercy Clinic - East Communities; Ministry Medical Group; NEA Baptist Clinic; New West Physicians, P.C.; Northeast Georgia Physician Group; Olmsted Medical Center; Palo Alto Medical Foundation; The Polyclinic, Premier Medical Associates, P.C.; Prevea Health Services; PriMed Physicians; ProHealth Physicians, Inc.; Sacred Heart Medical Group; Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, Inc.; Slocum-Dickson Medical Group; Springfield Clinic; Summit Medical Group, P.A.; SwedishAmerican Health System; ThedaCare Physicians; UnityPoint Clinic; University of Utah Community Clinics; USMD Holdings, Inc.; Watson Clinic, LLP; Weill Cornell Physician Organization; Wellmont Medical Associates; and WESTMED Medical Group, P.C.

Measure Up/Pressure Down® will host its third annual National Day of Action on May 5, 2016.

Source: American Medical Group Association