ROCHESTER, MN – The Mayo Clinic has upgraded its online Mayo Clinic Health Manager to help patients better manage their health.

"Our new features help people suffering from hypertension and high cholesterol better manage their health based on the expertise of Mayo Clinic physicians," said Sidna Tulledge-Scheitel, a primary care physician at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minn., and medical director of Mayo Clinic Global Products and Services. "The fields of technology and medicine are constantly advancing, and Mayo Clinic Health Manager will continue to evolve so our users will always have the best health information and tools."

Patients and clinicians who use the upgraded Mayo Clinic Health Manager can access stress, blood pressure and cholesterol trackers as well as other guidance and health information. Officials expect these features will allow users to more easily track and manage conditions such as hypertension and high cholesterol.

Included in the update is a "Tell-a-Friend" link, found on each Web page. Officials said the link, designed to inform others of the new features, is pointed at busy parents who need to track their children's immunization list. This feature also was designed to make the task of informing schools, doctors and other organizations that require medical history much easier.

Launched in April, the Mayo Clinic Health Manager is designed to help manage the health concerns of aging parents, children and patients managing chronic conditions and multiple medications. The site allows users to organize health information into a single, online location. The data is stored in Microsoft HealthVault, so users can have access to the health data 24/7.