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Sharon Grace 703.838.0033 ext. 393[email protected]

September 8, 2016

Measure Up/Pressure Down® Campaign's National Day of Action Reaches 35.4 Million Americans

Newswise — ALEXANDRIA, VA – AMGA today announced the results and impact of its third annual Measure Up/Pressure Down® National Day of Action: Roll Up Your Sleeves! event. On May 5, during National High Blood Pressure Education Month, a record-setting 144 campaign supporters across the country collectively took nearly 200 "actions" 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 35.4 million Americans.

The Measure Up/Pressure Down campaign, administered through AMGA Foundation, the association’s nonprofit arm, 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 high blood pressure awareness, detection, and control around the country.

"We were honored to have our third Measure Up/Pressure Down National Day of Action recognized by U.S. Representative Donald S. Beyer and Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner,” said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE, president and chief executive officer of AMGA and secretary of the AMGA Foundation Board of Directors. “Together with our members and other supporters, we are raising awareness and making a dramatic difference in the health and well-being of patients with this life-threatening condition.”

National support and participation enabled Measure Up/Pressure Down to educate millions of patients with or at risk for 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.

A full list of National Day of Action supporters, including campaign sponsors and partners, is available at www.MeasureUpPressureDown.com.

BackgroundAs 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 542,069 patients.

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About AMGA FoundationThe AMGA Foundation is AMGA’s nonprofit arm that enables medical groups and other organized systems of care to consistently improve health and health care. The AMGA Foundation serves as a catalyst, connector, and collaborator for translating the evidence of what works best in improving health and health care in everyday practice. www.amga.org/foundation

About AMGAAMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 170,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. For more information, visit amga.org