Four hospitals are sending heart failure patients home with a virtual care support team under a newly unveiled collaboration between the American Heart Association (AHA) and remote chronic disease monitoring platform Cadence.
The American Heart Association Connected Care pilot program aims to reduce 30-day readmissions by addressing “critical gaps in heart failure care” that occur after heart failure patients leave the hospital.
It will see the participating hospitals integrate program referrals into their discharge workflows. Enrolled patients are given and taught to use connected vital sign monitors, which a Cadence virtual care team uses to provide ongoing clinical support, adjust treatments or direct the patient to an in-person provider if necessary.
Almost one in four heart failure patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and fewer than a fifth receive post-discharge medical therapies in line with clinical guidelines, according to study data cited in the announcement.
“By combining advanced remote patient monitoring technology with our expertise in guideline-directed care and chronic condition management, we can help extend the high-quality care hospitals provide, ensuring people with heart failure receive proactive, timely support at home when they need it most,” John Meiners, chief of mission-aligned businesses at the AHA, said in a release.
The four hospitals participating in the pilot are Rutherford Regional Medical Center and Frye Regional Medical Center, both part of Lifepoint Health; Texas Health Allen, part of Texas Health Resources; and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, part of Montage Health.
Cadence made its debut in 2021 with near-back-to-back funding rounds and an immediate partnership with LifePoint Health. It has pulled a slew of health system partners in the time since, including Community Health Systems, Ardent Health Services and, quite recently, Rush University System for Health.
The tech company tallied over 12 million phone calls, virtual visits and alert responses and about 200,000 remote patient encounters in 2024, according to a white paper report it released. Among heart failure patients, Cadence said its program increased uptake of guideline-directed medical therapy from 7% to 23% and drove average monthly savings of more than $1,000 per patient.
The collaboration with the AHA further extends the platform’s reach.
“By pairing the American Heart Association’s gold-standard scientific guidelines with Cadence’s AI-driven remote monitoring and always-on care team, American Heart Association Connected Care, Powered by Cadence, makes proactive, personalized heart-failure support available anytime, anywhere,” Cadence founder and CEO Chris Altchek said in a release.
Remote patient monitoring services are steadily taking on a greater role in post-discharge care. A review of American Hospital Association Annual Survey data published last week found the number of hospitals offering the services rose 40% from 2018 to 2022, from about a third of surveyed hospitals to nearly half. However, the tools were less common among smaller hospitals, nonteaching hospitals and rural hospitals.