heart health

Healthcare provider standing in a hallway wearing green scrubs and a stethoscope around their neck while looking at a tablet
By  Jessica Hagen 01:35 pm May 16, 2024
Kansas City-based Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute is partnering with virtual specialty care company Story Health to codevelop an atrial fibrillation (AFib) program for the health system's patients.  The program, which will be rolled out in the coming months, will include features for optimizing treatment, such as lifestyle recommendations, monitoring or adjusting medications, and...
Two doctors looking at data on a laptop
By  Emily Olsen 10:23 am July 19, 2022
Anumana, a joint venture between EHR data company nference and the Mayo Clinic, announced last week it had entered a strategic partnership with pharma giant Novartis to develop artificial intelligence tools to detect cardiovascular diseases. The collaboration will focus on deploying AI algorithms that analyze ECGs to find left ventricular dysfunction, which can lead to heart failure, and...
The Hello Heart platform, including smartphone displaying the app and the connected blood pressure monitor
By  Emily Olsen 09:43 am May 2, 2022
Cardiac health management company Hello Heart scooped up $70 million in a Series D funding round led by growth equity firm Stripes. Other participants include IVP, Resolute and BlueRun Ventures. The round comes nearly a year after the startup announced a $45 million Series C raise.  WHAT IT DOES Hello Heart's program includes a wireless blood pressure cuff that connects to an app, keeping track...
By  Dave Muoio 02:43 pm February 22, 2021
University Health Network (UHN), a research collaborative supported by Toronto-area health organizations, is spinning up its academic study on heart-health monitoring via the Apple Watch. Conducted in collaboration with the tech giant and first name-dropped last fall, the project looks to determine whether or not blood oxygen, mobility and other types of data collected through the smartwatch's...
By  Dave Muoio 02:08 pm September 3, 2020
New data published in JAMA Cardiology suggests that the Apple Watch's ECG tool could not only be used to record multi-lead ECG, but also to spot ST-segment changes among patients with acute coronary syndromes. The independent study was conducted by researchers from Italy's Magna Graecia University, and enrolled 100 participants who had myocardial infarction or were healthy. And although taking...
By  Laura Lovett 01:40 pm August 4, 2020
Cardio-focused digital health company Eko has inked a deal with AstraZeneca in order for the two to work together to develop digital health-screening tools.  According to the companies, the pharm giant will be looking to employ Eko’s AI-enabled algorithms in developing early detection tools, as well as to use the tech in clinical trials.  WHY IT MATTERS  Heart disease accounts for roughly one in...
By  Laura Lovett 01:08 pm July 6, 2020
Abbott’s Bluetooth connected cardioverter defibrillator and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator, part of the Gallant product line, scored FDA clearance this morning. Patients using the technology can connect it to a smartphone app, called MyMerlinPulse, which will let both patients and providers see transmission history and device performance. The app is also designed to nudge...
By  Dave Muoio 12:45 pm May 6, 2020
Fitbit announced this morning the launch of a new atrial fibrillation research study aiming to enroll hundreds of thousands of fitness-tracker and smartwatch owners. Called the Fitbit Heart Study, it will passively and continuously monitor wearers' heart rates using the devices' photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors. A proprietary algorithm will interpret these readings and flag potential...
By  Laura Lovett 12:10 pm March 12, 2020
This morning, digital cardiology platform Heartbeat Health scored $8.2 million in Series A funding. Boston-based venture firm .406 Ventures and Optum Ventures led the round with participation from Kindred Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Designer Fund and Max Ventures.  WHAT THEY DO  The company is focused on using digital tools to aggregate heart data and provide care management to patients.  “I started...
By  Laura Lovett 01:44 pm August 5, 2019
Fossil’s latest smartwatch is set to integrate Cardiogram, an app that uses deep neural network technology to detect various heart conditions, preinstalled. The Cardiogram platform has been tested to detect sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension and atrial fibrillation.  Typically, Cardiogram Care is included only in Cardiogram’s premium version, which costs $15 a month. However, the Cardiogram Care...