The at-home care startup MedArrive has announced a new collaboration with Heartbeat Health, one of the largest tech-enabled virtual cardiology companies in the country.
Together, the two companies will work together to bring Heartbeat’s on-demand cardiovascular services into the home for health plans using MedArrive.
Often leveraging EMT works, MedArrive both coordinates and delivers at-home care to health plan members.
On its end, Heartbeat Health, is a digital cardiology company that partners with providers to assist with care in a variety of settings.
“MedArrive serves some of the most vulnerable patients out there and the Heartbeat partnership will allow us to deliver even more value to these patients,” MedArrive CEO Dan Trigub wrote in an email to Home Health Care News. “Many of the patients MedArrive currently serves have heart conditions and the Heartbeat relationship will allow MedArrive to bring additional specialty care to these patients in their homes.”
Under the new partnership, MedArrive’s field providers will be able to coordinate care with Heartbeat Health’s cardiologists and the health plan case management teams to offer medication titration and symptom assessments, among other at-home services.
For members under health plans that partner with MedArrive — especially those who live in rural and underserved areas — the partnership will open the door to cardiology care in areas where it may be difficult to find a personalized care plan.
Access issues with specialists — especially for Medicaid patients — is a major driver of this partnership, Trigub said.
“The patients MedArrive serves have multiple chronic conditions and this partnership will allow us to bring much-needed specialty care to those who have issues getting appointments or accessing otherwise,” he added. “This relationship between MedArrive and Heartbeat will be bi-directional for referrals. MedArrive can bring Heartbeat into care programs serving members in their homes and Heartbeat can refer patients to MedArrive who might need additional care in their homes.”
According to a study in AHA Journals, the U.S. spends more than $320 billion – or 15% of all health care expenditures — treating or managing cardiovascular disease. At the same time, more than one in four Medicaid beneficiaries have some form of CVD.
The integration of home care and specialty virtual care is not just helpful, but essential, for the management of chronic conditions like heart failure, Heartbeat Health CEO Jeff Wessler told HHCN.
“Medicaid patients are at the highest risk for cardiovascular disease — so by bringing high-quality, accessible cardiology care directly to the home, we can drastically improve lives and outcomes,” Wessler wrote in an email. “Heartbeat has always been focused on proving that the care works with rigorous data collection to build an evidence base and this is no exception. We’ll aim to show better clinical outcomes, improved engagement and cost savings on top of high member satisfaction.”
Moving forward, MedArrive and Heartbeat Health plan to reach out to health plans who are interested in collaborating with the two companies as the partnership scales.