 According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, more than 31 of adults in the U.S. population have hypertension HTN. HTN is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, which are the 1st and 3rd leading causes of death in the U.S. and impose an enormous financial and social burden on Americans with more than 352 billion spent in direct and indirect costs. Behavioral interventions to control blood pressure BP have exhibited, on average, positive but relatively modest effects on blood pressure control. We and others have studied the effects of one such intervention - home BP monitoring - on BP control in hypertensive patients, and found reliable, albeit modest effects. We have found similar effects for another behavioral intervention, Motivational Interviewing, on BP control. We hypothesize that the effects of such interventions will be augmented when accompanied by a systematic approach to patient education concerning their illness and its treatment. The literature suggests that patient education is necessary but not sufficientan implicit interaction to produce behavioral changes; however, the necessary part tends to be ignored by interventionalists. The implication of the interaction is that when patients lack the necessary knowledge, any intervention is likely to be less effective as any value multiplied by zero - i.e., no knowledge - is zero. In spite of this, we have found no trials that have tested the interaction between patient knowledge and a lifestyle or drug intervention. 