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For World Heart Day 2025, observed annually on Sept. 29 to raise public awareness of cardiovascular diseases and their prevention, Healthcare IT News has been tracking new technologies – and new applications of existing technologies – to improve chronic conditions that jeopardize heart health.
This roundup highlights some cutting-edge artificial intelligence that could better guide treatment for coronary artery disease and telehealth and remote patient monitoring programs that could reduce hospitalizations and improve patient outcomes.
Next-gen plaque analysis
Mountain View, California-based Heartflow announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its latest plaque analysis algorithm for 510(k) clearance.
The Heartflow Plaque Analysis platform shows a 21% improvement in plaque detection compared to the first generation, the company said last week.
The AI-driven platform includes a 3D color-coded visualization of a patient's plaque, which could help clinicians better diagnose and manage coronary artery disease. The plaque quantification tool offers insights into the type, volume and distribution, giving clinicians greater clarity to predict patient risk and guide personalized treatment plans, Heartflow explained.
The algorithm is powered by a dataset of more than 273,000 patients, according to the company.
Along with the FDA clearance, Heartflow also said that health insurance provider Cigna will cover the platform's plaque analysis across all business lines, including commercial and Medicare Advantage plans. Patients with acute or stable chest pain and mild-to-moderate narrowing of coronary arteries (1-69% stenosis) identified on coronary CTA are eligible as of Oct. 1.
"Understanding not only how much plaque is present, but also plaque type and distribution, is critical in predicting patient risk and guiding personalized treatment," said Dr. Matthew Budoff, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, in the statement.
AHA's novel RPM collaboration
This past month, the American Heart Association announced it is diving into care delivery through a novel team-up with RPM company Cadence to provide at-home support for patients with heart failure.
The duo launched the virtual hospital-at-home program to help hospitals support post-discharge heart failure patients and cut down on 30-day readmissions.
The Cadence program enrolls patients before they leave the hospital and equips them with connected devices so clinical care teams can monitor patient conditions and intervene when needed.
"By combining advanced remote patient monitoring technology with our expertise in guideline-directed care and chronic condition management, we can help extend the high-quality care hospitals provide, ensuring people with heart failure receive proactive, timely support at home when they need it most," John Meiners, AHA's chief of mission-aligned businesses, said in a statement.
Free virtual nutrition services
Asheville, North Carolina-based Aeroflow Health, a company that supports the delivery of medical products and services, announced recently that it has joined up with Cigna to extend telehealth-based nutrition services to new mothers and diabetic and other patient populations with chronic health conditions.
The program aims to help patients lose weight, reduce their glucose/A1C, lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and improve their risk for heart disease. Registered dieticians will provide personalized meal plans and patient information free of charge.
"Nutrition plays a vital role in both the treatment and prevention of various health conditions," Amanda Minimi, Aeroflow's vice president of health solutions marketing and operations, said in a statement. "By utilizing a telehealth delivery method, we’ve created a solution to ensure easy access to nutrition education."
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
