SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Expanding on its commitment to improve health outcomes for millions of lives, Vida Health announced a new app-based, coach-centered virtual congestive heart failure (CHF) management program set to launch in December of this year. Upon its launch, the CHF program will join Vida’s extensive portfolio of more than a dozen best-in-class care programs for managing and reversing chronic conditions. Vida’s unique approach to CHF addresses not only the challenges of this condition but also its co-occurring nature with chronic conditions such as long-standing hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.
“Between missed days of work, treatments, medication, and out-of-pocket expenses, the cost of heart failure in the U.S. exceeds $30 billion,” said Vida Health Founder and CEO Stephanie Tilenius. “We’re excited to be launching a virtual care option to our members with CHF. We know that if more people with heart failure were treated with a day-to-day continuous care model, we would not only see much better health outcomes, we would see significantly less spending on the disease.”
In the United States, about 6.2 million adults have heart failure which occurs when the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be, resulting in the body not getting enough oxygen-rich blood. Those with CHF usually experience fatigue, shortness of breath and coughing which often causes everyday activities like walking or climbing stairs to be difficult. While the condition can be managed and improved with medicines and healthy lifestyle changes, it can’t be cured.
Vida's new heart failure management program is designed to serve members across the spectrum of the progressive condition, from those with no limitation of physical activity to those at a very advanced stage of congestive heart failure who still exhibit symptoms even while at rest. It supports patients in both main types of heart failure, often called systolic and diastolic, as well as those with related conditions like abnormal heart rhythms. The program has two stages, a 20-week intensive program followed by a 28-week maintenance program to ensure users stay on course. Through the program, members learn to be aware of, track, and manage key physical symptoms that provide early warning of the need to seek preventive and acute medical care. Because emotional well-being enables people to better manage symptoms and improve quality of life, the Vida program also helps people be aware of and improve their coping skills, through better sleep, stress management, and building resilience. Members who screen for severe depression or anxiety also have the option to work with a Vida therapist in a cognitive behavioral therapy program.
With a personal Vida health coach, members co-create a heart health plan, build helpful habits, and explore ways to stay connected to their primary care team. To manage symptoms, the Vida provider helps members focus on self-monitoring, taking medicine, and eating healthy. Focused nutritional support includes swapping out highly processed sugary and starchy foods as well as sodium and fluid management. The program includes a smart weight scale which automatically syncs to the Vida app and uploads weigh-ins. Other devices, such as blood pressure monitors and heart trackers, are also offered as part of the program and seamlessly sync with Vida’s platform.
The CHF program supports members with comorbidities by treating all of their supported chronic conditions simultaneously. Vida’s personalized polychronic approach drives lasting outcomes and meaningful reductions in healthcare costs. Like in all Vida programs, the company is committed to studying its efficacy and will be publishing outcomes when it reaches statistical significance. Vida has published peer reviewed research in PLOS One, American Heart Journal, JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, and The Psychological Record.
About Vida Health
Vida Health is a leading polychronic virtual care platform that was designed from the ground up to treat multiple chronic health conditions simultaneously, through a balance of machine learning that personalizes each person’s treatment and a human connection with real life health coaches and therapists who bring the empathy and accountability people need to reach their goals. Vida Health’s services, available in both English and Spanish, are delivered through a mobile platform that supports individuals in preventing, managing and reversing chronic conditions such as pre-diabetes, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, depression, anxiety, etc. The platform integrates deep individual expert care with data-driven technology and remote patient monitoring to deliver best-in-class health outcomes and cost savings to employers and health plans. To-date, some of the largest nationwide health plans and employers have benefited from Vida’s unique offering. Learn more at www.Vida.com.
