The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) selected Wilmington Health as a testing site for a program to help patients monitor and control high blood pressure from their homes.

“To partner with AMGA in this Measure Up/Pressure Down program is an honor,” Jonathan Hines, Wilmington Health’s chief medical officer, said in a news release.

The program uses a wireless blood pressure monitor made by health care consumer product and application company Withings. The device allows people checking their blood pressure at home to utilize a smartphone app that stores readings over time.

“These home blood pressure monitoring systems can really be a game-changer when it comes to preventive care,” Hines said. “Keeping patients and health care providers more connected and cognizant of changes in blood pressure will not only help better manage a patient’s overall health, but it also has the potential to reduce doctor and ER visits.”

Along with Wilmington Health, AMGA selected three other medical groups nationwide for the project to help improve hypertension control through the FDA-approved monitor.

Beginning Aug. 5, using the Withings monitor, Wilmington Health and AMGA will work to lower the blood pressure of patients with newly diagnosed or uncontrolled hypertension.

By connecting with any iOS or Android device, the monitor not only automatically tracks blood pressure readings, but it allows the data to be shared with medical providers “in a secure, seamless manner,” Wilmington Health CEO Jeff James said in the release.

“Wilmington Health has a responsibility to our patients and community to keep them healthy while ultimately lowering the overall cost of health care in the area. Through programs that actively engage patients and keep them thinking about how to improve their health, we are doing just that,” James said.

Founded by AMGA, Measure Up/Pressure Down is a three-year national campaign dedicated to improving high blood pressure detection and control.

By 2016, the national campaign challenges health care systems and providers to have 80 percent of their high blood pressure patients keeping their blood pressure under control.