Finalist: Connecting
Interaction Awards
Every 30 seconds, someone in the US is hospitalized for heart failure. Once admitted to the hospital, there is an extremely high probability sufferers will be readmitted within the first 30 days of discharge. The disease becomes a steep downward slope from which patients struggle to gain control in their life and lifestyle.
After diagnosis, about a third of patients will die within 1 year, and about half will die within 5 years. What’s more, care partners are also affected, as they often deal with the emotional and physical stress of tending to their loved one’s needs. The burden of management often falls disproportionally on a primary caregiver—typically an adult child or spouse, along with an extended caregiver network of grandchildren, other relatives, and neighbors, who do all the work to keep them ‘safe.’
Heart Partner is a mobile application that’s specifically designed for patients with chronic heart failure and their caregivers / care partners to help:
- facilitate increased adherence to therapy
- deliver diligent monitoring of symptoms
- orchestrate the adoption of healthy lifestyle choices
Heart Partner can recognize when patients or caregivers track one or more symptoms that may indicate a worsening of heart failure, and then direct them to call their health care provider. The Health Card helps to consolidate a record of doctor appointments, medications, hospital visits, and health-related tasks all in one place.
Over the past two years, it has been tested with more than 100 users to optimize and advance the experience. It is currently available for download, and works across multiple devices, including Fitbit, Withings, iHealth, Jawbone, and Apple’s Health app, and a partner version created for Walgreens allows patients to link with their Balance Rewards account.
We believe that HP represents the values of ‘CONNECTING’ by unifying loved ones, physicians, and partners into a single tool, and a cohesive team, in the coordination of care. While its functions include tracking specific measures like blood pressure, different medicines, and physician visits, Heart Partner delivers much more: a sense of control, comfort and confidence for patients and caregivers. Something heart failure steals from so many people.
