While many hearts are sure to be fluttering on Valentine's Day, CardioNet and AirStrip are joining forces to make sure they're also being remotely monitored by doctors. And another mHealth company, Archimedes, is unveiling an app that will allow consumers to assess their own risk of heart problems.
In an announcement issued on Feb. 13, CardioNet, based in Conshohocken, Pa., will integrate its Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry (MCOT) solution with San Antonio-based AirStrip's mobility platform, enabling clinicians to receive critical cardiac data on mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones. That data can then be combined with a patient's EMR and device information, officials said, to improve patient-monitoring and clinical decision-making in real-time.
“This partnership is the foundation for a powerful end-to-end cardiac care package that promises to have a game-changing impact on 30-day readmissions for heart failure,” AirStrip CEO Alan Portela said in the release. “Our pioneering mobility solution delivers critical patient data to physicians anywhere across the care continuum to encourage better decision-making and improve both the timeliness and quality of care. This integration with CardioNet’s platform enables health systems to empower clinicians with the information they need to achieve key quality metrics in cardiology – one of the most resource- and time-intensive practice areas within healthcare.”
“This collaboration is one of the most exciting initiatives CardioNet has embarked on to date. As the leader in the mobile cardiac telemetry market, we are always looking for avenues to expand the utilization of our data," added Joseph H. Capper, CardioNet's president and CEO, in the release. "The AirStrip solution is the leading FDA-cleared technology for the transmission of virtual, live ECG waveforms to a healthcare provider’s mobile device. This solution is rapidly transforming the way clinical data is delivered and integrated in a point-of-care setting. Incorporating the timely, accurate information derived from MCOTTM into AirStrip’s state-of-the-art mobile system will undoubtedly improve the physician’s ability to deliver the proper treatment, the first time.”
Details of the partnership were not made available, but officials said they expect to bring an integrated product to the market by mid-year.
In other heart-healthy news, The Million Hearts Initiative, a national public-private coalition launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, named Wisconsin's Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation as the winner of its Risk Check Challenge. The challenge asked participants to develop a mobile app powered by Archimedes' IndiGO (Individualized Guidelines and Outcomes) clinical decision-support tool.
Using IndiGO, Marshfield Clinic researchers created a mobile app that analyzes a user's individual information to calculate the risk of heart attack or stroke. It marks the first time that IndiGO has been adapted to an API (Application Programming Interface) format for use by consumers, though the tool has been used for some time by clinicians.
“The announcement of Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation’s Heart Health Mobile app represents a new era of consumer information and access to powerful healthcare data,” said David Eddy, MD, PhD, who founded San Francisco-based Archimedes, in a Feb. 14 press release. “For years Archimedes has been developing quantitative methods for analyzing healthcare decisions at the individual and population levels. The launch of this new app will provide consumers with convenient access to our IndiGO solution in a format that is easy to use and understand. We are confident this app will help empower individuals to be more engaged in the heart – and overall – healthcare.”
The Heart Health iPhone app is available to download from the Apple iTunes store. A web-based version that works on other devices is expected to be released next month, officials said.
