A digital health product for cardiac rehabilitation.

The problem

The CR program at the clinic includes individual exercises, goals, counselling sessions, educational information and behavioural change techniques to assist patients across their cardiac rehab journey and consequently reduce the burden amongst clinicians.

Despite the effectiveness of CR when it comes to improving quality of life and health outcomes in cardiac patients, attendance rates in the UK remain relatively low. Across England, a significant patient dropout rate is seen in terms of adhering to their cardiac rehab programme, leading to increased relapse and reduced recovery rates amongst these patients. This consequently leads to increased demands on healthcare professionals and the healthcare system when it comes to managing patients, assisting recovery and providing quality care.

Our solution

Beat Better was developed using HealthMachine to help patients through their entire cardiac rehabilitation journey.

We created Beat Better to help improve patient adherence to cardiac treatment, allowing a smoother patient journey to recovery and a subsequent reduction in clinician burden, leading to improved outcomes for the patient during their recovery. The product consists of a patient-centred app and a web-based platform for clinicians.

The Patient App incorporates behaviour change techniques to bring about positive behaviour change in patients undergoing cardiac rehab. The app comprises a range of features including:

• Educational resources and guidance to learn about heart health, rehab and symptom recognition

• Tracking and self-monitoring of relevant health data over time e.g. symptoms, vitals and mood identified by their clinicians

• Lifestyle modification suggestions including exercise and dietary recommendations

• Notifications to improve patient adherence

• Links to external support and useful resources  

The Clinician’s Web Interface is an online platform aimed at improving patient management and providing greater visibility into a patient’s health, particularly between in-person appointments at the clinic. The HCP Portal enables care providers to:

• Register patients on the platform

• Manage patients through various stages of the care pathway

• Gain visibility into health data reported by individual patients to make timely decisions

• Enable efficient and simplified patient management

Avegen has applied key behavioural change techniques and evidence-based support mechanisms such as reminders, motivational messaging and positive feedback throughout the product to encourage adoption and continued engagement among users.

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Hear from a Clinical exercise specialist who has been using Beat Better in clinic to help patients with cardiac rehabilitation: 

1. What value does Beat Better add to your service?

 ‘It works well as a bolt on to our service. Although we try to give patients all the information needed during appointments, everyone's journey is different and sometimes certain topics in appointments aren't as relevant to some patients as they are to others. Having access to Beat Better helps support patients if there are gaps in information and takes the pressure off the staff during appointments.’  

2. What features in Beat Better are useful for patients?

 ‘The live links to sites and videos included in the app allow patients to absorb the information easier and in their own time, as appointments can sometimes be overwhelming with lots of information to take in. It gives patients the opportunity to sit with the information and process at their own pace.’  

3. What are patients' views on using Beat Better?

 ‘Patients are generally positive about the app. They find it useful to read it in their own time, record things in their own way and take in the information in a way that suits them.’

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