Caption Health and Heartbeat Health partner to provide unprecedented access to cardiac care

By combining AI-guided echocardiograms and Virtual-First cardiology care, the new partnership enables early disease identification and management for patients from the comfort of their homes

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BRISBANE, Calif. and NEW YORK, July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caption Health, the leader in providing services and AI to improve heart ultrasound access, and Heartbeat Health, the nation's largest Virtual Cardiology company, today announced a partnership that will enable providers to offer their patients earlier access to cardiovascular care than ever before possible. In this partnership, Caption Health's Caption Care™ clinicians will perform heart ultrasounds in convenient locations, even a patient's home, using the Caption AI platform, while Heartbeat Health virtual cardiologists receive, read, and interpret the ultrasounds remotely through their telemedicine platform. Heartbeat will then provide televisits and discuss findings with primary care teams for patients with abnormal cardiac findings via their virtual programs.

Together, the partners are increasing access to early cardiac evaluations and care by providing these two innovations as a value-based bundle for health providers, payers, and value-based care organizations. Limited access to cardiac diagnosis and care has long contributed to health disparities between regions and communities, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic. For example, a recent study of patients receiving care through the Veterans Affairs Health System showed that individuals who had recovered from Covid-19 infections after one year had a greater than 50% rate of risk for heart conditions like heart failure compared to patients not exposed to COVID¹.

"This is an ideal coupling of patient-centric services, which will open up access to life-saving early heart disease detection and Heartbeat Health's top-tier cardiologist network and virtual care," said Steve Cashman, CEO of Caption Health. "Whether it's heart wellness for patients with risk factors, ambulatory care for patients with non-urgent symptoms or convenient follow-up echos to help patients avoid costly and complex readmissions, we believe our joint offering will have a profound impact on the quality and cost of cardiac care for millions of patients."

The partnership builds on an early stage collaboration between Caption and Heartbeat to find heart failure among patients in at-risk populations where access to echocardiograms is limited. In studies across Heartbeat and Caption, the partners performed nearly 1,000 echocardiograms among a Medicare Advantage population at high risk for cardiovascular disease, revealing over 60% had clinically actionable findings.

"This partnership addresses a significant gap in today's management and care of structural heart disease – particularly in the early identification and management of heart failure," said Dr. Jeff Wessler, a cardiologist and Heartbeat Health's co-founder and CEO. "There are high rates of undiagnosed heart failure, and too often these patients stay under the radar until showing up to the emergency room already quite sick. But finding and managing these patients early in their course can make a world of difference in terms of outcomes. The combination of Caption Health's AI-guided ultrasound and services with our connected virtual-first cardiology capabilities can unlock huge clinical and cost-saving benefits. It is value-based cardiology fundamentally reimagined."

The program will be sold to health providers, payers, and organizations focused on value-based care.

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About Caption Health

Caption Health has developed the AI platform that enables heart ultrasound access for early disease detection – when there is the highest potential for impact. The company's Caption Care services offer health providers, payers, and value-based care organizations convenient and cost-effective echos for their members, leveraging its Caption AI technology platform. In 2021, Caption Health was recognized as one of TIME's 100 Best Inventions and a winner of Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech for health. Caption Health's platform is used at leading hospitals, clinics, and physician organizations, and is cited in several peer-reviewed journals including JAMA Cardiology and Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. For more information, visit captionhealth.com.

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About Heartbeat Health

Heartbeat Health is a Virtual-First Cardiology solution revolutionizing the delivery of cardiovascular care. Cardiology, like many specialties, is reactive with a focus on the already sick; Our Virtual-first model delivers preventive measures before heart health conditions develop and progress. Heartbeat leverages real-time clinical data and device connectivity to diagnose and deliver proactive heart care - helping provider groups and healthcare organizations identify, monitor, and manage cardiovascular care for their at-risk member populations. Powered by a connected ecosystem of heart health providers, Heartbeat delivers a range of clinical services, including same-day diagnostic reads, televisits, and virtual care programs for patients with atrial fibrillation, vascular disease, and heart failure. Virtual-First Cardiology has arrived. Learn more at heartbeathealth.com