Summary

Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists (VCS) is the largest, private cardiology practice in central Virginia. VCS physicians have a reputation for being the best, most respected, cardiologists in the state with 37 board-certified cardiologists in eight offices conveniently located around Richmond. VCS physicians are affiliated with either HCA Virginia or Bon Secours facilities in the Richmond area. Physicians of VCS are board-certified and Fellows of the American College of Cardiology. Many also have additional sub-specialty training in cardiovascular intervention, carotid stenting, CT angiography, electrophysiology, and peripheral vascular disease.

Challenge

Ann Honeycutt, MN, executive director of VCS, shared that the practice has been using Chronic Care Management (CCM) as a service for its patients for over five years, and the team at VCS already recognized the clinical importance when deciding to add RPM as a complementary program. VCS is actively involved in an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), so managing patients’ high-risk outcomes is top of mind as a critical measure of success.

When VCS was adding Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) with HealthSnap as a new offering, the team felt it would be important to partner with one company for both RPM and CCM in order to have a unified experience for patients, with one nurse managing both programs. She explained, “working with HealthSnap for both RPM and CCM programs is excellent for patient experience and continuity, and it also streamlines communication with the physicians.”

Program Highlights

At the onset of HealthSnap and VCS’ RPM partnership, Dean Caven, President of VCS stated, “HealthSnap’s leading Remote Patient Monitoring capabilities will enable our physicians to be more proactive in the care they provide, and their chronic disease-agnostic Remote Patient Monitoring will be an important part of our overall virtual care strategy.”

Months into utilizing the platform, VCS has noted a 5-star rating for its experience working with HealthSnap. Ann shared, “the HealthSnap team was extremely engaged and dedicated to getting our launch off the ground. HealthSnap ensured that our patients were getting the support needed to be a part of the program.”

She also noted that the communication tools and portal are both efficient and easy to use:

“HealthSnap tools and staff are excellent. We interviewed multiple providers and our team felt that HealthSnap had the best program and model to support us in launching successful RPM and CCM programs.”

Clinical Results

In terms of outcomes, VCS has already seen significant improvements in patients’ blood pressure readings. Patients who are actively involved and engaged in the programs, with the support of HealthSnap’s team, have also been very positive about the program and the consistency of nursing.

Our analysis included all patients who have been on the program for at least 90 days with a transmission index greater than 30% (i.e. readings were taken in at least 30% of the days enrolled).

1,357  patients qualified for the analysis. These patients have been enrolled for an average of 230 days.

Patients’ first 7 readings were averaged to determine a baseline status of “controlled hypertension” or “uncontrolled hypertension” with a threshold of uncontrolled hypertension defined as ≥130 mmHg SBP or ≥80 mmHg DBP.

Uncontrolled Hypertension Reduction

• At baseline, 65.6% of patients (890) were categorized as having uncontrolled hypertension (above 130/80) and 40.5% (550) were categorized as stage 2 hypertension (above 140/90). 34.4% of patients (467) were categorized as having controlled hypertension.
• According to the average of the 7 most recent readings, as of August 4, 2022, the percentage of uncontrolled hypertensive patients has dropped from 65.6% to 44.1% (now only 598  patients) and the percentage of patients categorized as stage 2 hypertension dropped from 40.5% to 16.9% (now only 229 patients), an impressive reduction of more than half.

Systolic Blood Pressure Improvements

• Patients with uncontrolled hypertension had an average baseline systolic blood pressure of 145.78 mmHg.
• In the time since enrollment, 86.9% of these patients improved systolic blood pressure, with an average change of -14.22 mmHg (145.78 mmHg to 131.56 mmHg).

Diastolic Blood Pressure Improvements

• Patients with uncontrolled hypertension had an average baseline diastolic blood pressure of 81.06  mmHg.
• In the time since enrollment, 84.7% of these patients improved diastolic blood pressure, with an average change of -7.57  mmHg (81.06 mmHg to 73.49 mmHg).

“The team at VCS has been very pleased with the level of service, clinical communication, and financial success of the program.”

View the video below for a comprehensive overview of the clinical outcomes achieved at VCS: