The American Heart Association has introduced American Heart Association Connected Care™, Powered by Cadence, a virtual care program designed to provide ongoing heart and cardiometabolic care to patients at home following hospital discharge. This initiative addresses the significant challenge of hospital readmissions, as nearly 1 in 4 heart failure patients returns to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, and fewer than 20% receive all four guideline-directed medical therapy pillars post-discharge despite evidence showing these therapies improve outcomes.
Hospitals can refer eligible patients to the Connected Care program prior to discharge, with the Association working to integrate the program into discharge workflows. Cadence enrolls patients, teaches them how to use monitoring devices, tracks vital sign readings, and provides ongoing clinical support. John Meiners, chief of mission-aligned businesses at the American Heart Association, stated that by combining advanced remote patient monitoring technology with expertise in guideline-directed care, the program extends high-quality hospital care to homes, ensuring proactive, timely support for heart failure patients.
The collaboration utilizes Cadence's remote platform and 24/7 virtual provider group to extend the reach of scientific guidelines into communities. Chris Altchek, chief executive officer and founder of Cadence, explained that hospitals struggle to maintain consistent, evidence-based care after discharge, but this program makes proactive, personalized heart failure support available anytime, anywhere through AI-driven monitoring and an always-on care team.
The program aims to reduce 30-day readmissions by providing peace of mind and timely interventions, support patients from admission through recovery at home, and deliver personalized care beyond hospital walls. Research published in Circulation: Heart Failure highlights the trends in readmission rates that this program seeks to address.
Dr. Marat Fudim, a heart failure cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center, emphasized that remote patient monitoring bridges the gap between hospital discharge and home recovery by enabling timely interventions and evidence-based support, ultimately avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations and achieving better long-term outcomes. The program is rooted in scientific breakthroughs and clinical guidelines, offering patients remote care to help them adhere to treatment plans, adopt heart-healthy habits, and prevent readmissions.
A pilot program is currently underway at four hospitals: Texas Health Allen in Texas, Rutherford Regional Medical Center in North Carolina, Frye Regional Medical Center in North Carolina, and Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in California. This initiative comes at a critical time, as chronic disease rates are rising across the U.S., and the number of people living with chronic illness is expected to double from 2020 to 2050, making remote patient care a scalable solution to support vulnerable patients and reduce avoidable hospitalizations regardless of geographical location.
