What You Should Know:
– With chronic disease rates rising and nearly one in four heart failure patients readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, healthcare systems face ongoing challenges in reducing hospital stays and readmissions. To address this critical gap, the American Heart Association has launched American Heart Association Connected Care™, Powered by Cadence. This new virtual care program delivers ongoing heart and cardiometabolic care to patients at home after their hospital stay.
– The program integrates with hospital discharge workflows, allowing hospitals to refer eligible patients to the program before they are discharged. Cadence then enrolls patients, provides them with monitoring devices, and offers ongoing clinical support.
Connected Care Program Impact
American Heart Association Connected Care aims to improve patient outcomes and reduce avoidable hospitalizations by providing proactive, personalized support outside of the hospital setting. According to John Meiners, chief of mission-aligned businesses at the American Heart Association, the program combines advanced remote patient monitoring with the association’s expertise in guideline-directed care to extend the high-quality care that hospitals provide.
The program’s goals include:
- Reducing 30-day readmissions by providing timely interventions for patients and their families.
- Supporting heart failure patients from hospital admission through safe discharge and recovery at home.
- Bringing care to more communities by delivering personalized support beyond hospital walls.
The Connected Care pilot program is currently underway at four hospitals:
- Texas Health Allen, Texas Health Resources – Allen, Texas
- Rutherford Regional Health System, Lifepoint Health – Rutherfordton, N.C.
- Frye Regional Medical Center, Lifepoint Health – Hickory, N.C.
- Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Montage Health – Monterey, Calif.
Dr. Marat Fudim, a heart failure cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center, noted that remote patient monitoring allows clinicians to “bridge that gap by keeping a close eye on patients’ health while they’re at home, avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations and achieving better long-term outcomes”. The program is currently being piloted at four hospitals: Texas Health Allen, Rutherford Regional Health System, Frye Regional Medical Center, and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
