A total of 404 employees with those conditions participated in the study, which enabled individuals to easily collect their blood pressure readings, monitor trends and securely share their personal data with their providers using a home blood pressure cuff and Web portal. It was based on this self-management technology platform, developed by the Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, that Healthrageous was founded, officials say.

The change in diastolic blood pressure was significantly different between the intervention and control groups, although the change in systolic blood pressure was not significant, according to the research. Nearly one quarter of intervention participants experienced a greater than 10mmHg decrease in systolic blood pressure (22 percent), or a greater than 5mmHg decrease in diastolic blood pressure (29 percent) compared to the control group.

Moreover, intervention participants were twice as likely to report starting a new medication and more likely to report improved communication with their doctor. Just a 5mmHg decrease in blood pressure can reduce mortality due to stroke and heart disease by 14 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Data from individuals participating in Healthrageous' hypertension self-management program over the past 18 months show a sustained engagement rate of 70 percent among those focused on improving their hypertension. Significantly, 30 percent achieve a meaningful clinical improvement as defined by the original study completed in 2009 by the Center for Connected Health, officials say.

These advancements will be "highly refined by the combination of the biofeedback loop and the machine learning," says Lee. "We can constantly come back to you with those real-time data numbers, which are your numbers. Based on you taking your blood pressure. And we can start to correlate your lifestyle behaviors with those elevated scores." As the user's health improves, the Healthrageous platform can provide positive feedback.

"It comes down to the personalization that is achieved with machine learning," says Lee. "If I can deduce from your wireless pedometer that you're a type A personality, because I have a time/date stamp of you running six-minute miles, six of them, this morning at 5:30 a.m. in the pitch dark in Boston, now I have a pretty good understanding of what makes you tick. And then I can embellish that when I start asking questions like, 'Have you ever smoked? Are you in a long-term relationship? Do you watch hours and hours of TV at night?" These are just further informing me so I can come back to you and, in bite-sized bits of information, help you achieve the kind of health you're striving for with pointers and tips and hints and suggestions."

"Our findings indicate that self-management can be an effective way to improve blood pressure control," said Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, founder and director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare. "Shifting interventions from the clinic to home and workplace is an innovative and potentially effective approach to achieving increased self management, improving quality of life and clinical outcomes, while reducing healthcare costs."