The future of cardiovascular care: Dr. Jayne Morgan speaks to the power of Hello Heart + Amwell
Guest blog by Dr. Jayne Morgan
In honor of American Heart Month, we sat down with Jayne Morgan, MD, a renowned cardiologist, on-air medical expert and vice president of medical affairs at Hello Heart to talk about the benefits and future of digital care programs for heart health. In 2024, Amwell launched a partnership with Hello Heart to offer health plans specialized digital support for heart disease prevention and management.
Dr. Morgan discussed Hello Heart’s value in driving health equity and the magnified impact the program has on health plan outcomes and member experience when powered by the Amwell platform and its clinical programs portfolio.
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Although several contributing factors exist, access to quality healthcare is one of the biggest challenges. By combining the digital, cardiovascular care expertise of Hello Heart with the technological power and member population supported by the Amwell platform, we’re working together to take heart disease prevention to the next level.
The Amwell platform supports around 80 million health plan members. With nearly half of U.S. adults having some type of cardiovascular disease, we could help prevent and manage heart issues for the potential millions of members on the platform who may be at risk. The Hello Heart and Amwell partnership is expanding cardiovascular care access to help more people improve their heart health and save lives.
We see an additional lift when a program like Hello Heart is used alongside care delivered by a primary care provider, such as Amwell Virtual Primary Care. Referrals by trusted clinicians can increase engagement in that referred program or service.
How do gender, race, ethnicity, and age impact the prevalence and management of heart disease?
When it comes to heart disease, there are real disparities in health outcomes between populations.
While there is a higher prevalence of heart disease in male adults, women are at twice the risk of dying after a heart attack compared to men. Many factors contribute to this sad reality, including emergency departments dismissing women’s concerns and not understanding women’s unique heart attack symptoms, which can include nausea, dizziness, and neck and jaw pain, in addition to the more common symptoms like chest pain and tightness.
Women also experience up to three times higher risk of heart disease as they enter menopause, which even some clinicians don’t realize. So, it’s very important for all women to monitor their risk factors and symptoms as they age.
Finally, the numbers get starker when you factor in race and ethnicity. Black women, for example, are two to three times more likely to die prematurely from heart disease compared to white women. This is not related to biological factors or lifestyle choices but external circumstances, such as discrimination, food deserts, and economic insecurity.
As a cardiologist who has led community engagement and education in Atlanta, Georgia, can you explain how social determinants of health affect the likelihood and outcomes of heart disease?
Social factors play a big role in heart health. Income level, job stability, access to healthy food, education, health literacy, and even housing conditions can make a difference. Access to healthcare, insurance coverage, walkable neighborhoods, and exposure to environmental hazards also matter. On top of that, experiencing chronic stress or discrimination can have serious effects.
Here’s how these factors connect to heart disease. If someone can’t safely walk in their neighborhood, they’re less likely to exercise. Struggling to afford fresh fruits and vegetables often leads to eating more processed foods, which can cause obesity. Facing chronic racism creates stress. Living in areas where it’s hard to find healthy food or a nearby pharmacy can make it harder to follow a healthy diet or stick to medications. And without proper health literacy, people may not make well-informed health decisions. Add challenges like unemployment or lack of insurance, and managing conditions like high blood pressure becomes even harder.
All of these factors place extra strain on the heart. Over time, they worsen chronic conditions, like poorly controlled blood pressure, and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. This chain reaction highlights the importance of addressing these social determinants.
What role does digital health play in addressing these disparities?
Going to an in-person visit can be daunting, and with heart disease especially, people put it off. More people have a smartphone than a primary care doctor or cardiologist, and we know that women in particular are more likely to seek virtual-first care. Key risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol often have no symptoms – until it’s too late and the person has a heart attack or stroke. This is why heart disease is called the “silent killer” and, in my opinion, why it remains the leading cause of death for so long. It’s invisible until it’s not.
Digital health tools make the risk more visible. Research shows that 4 in 10 people with high blood pressure don’t even know they have it. With simple, intuitive tools that health plan members can access at no cost, we can start reaching and helping broader and more diverse groups of people. We can help everyone know their risk and empower them to do something about it from the comfort of their homes.
This is important because, ultimately, the status quo isn’t working. Millions of people are at risk and have no idea. Someone dies of a heart attack in America every 40 seconds. With a combination of engaging technology and access to large populations, we can turn the tide in the fight against heart disease and make progress against this silent killer.
How has Hello Heart, offered on the Amwell platform, improved engagement and outcomes for heart disease?
Our clinical outcomes have been demonstrated in large-scale studies in the nation’s top medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Journal of the American Heart Association. The studies show that, over sustained periods, members who use Hello Heart experienced significant reductions in blood pressure, cholesterol, and even weight.
We’ve also shown that these industry-leading outcomes are associated with significant cost savings for health plans and employers. A new peer-reviewed study in Value in Health found that organizations save $1,709 per enrolled Hello Heart member compared to matched members who don’t use Hello Heart. Our clients regularly see a ROI of 2:1 or more due to decreased avoidable acute care for cardiac events.
Lastly, for a digital health program, our engagement is off the charts! Typically, 20% of eligible members enroll in the first year, and 60% of those members stick with the program a year after signing up. That’s because we’re fun, easy to use, and judgment-free. We’re all about helping members wherever they are on their heart health journey, and their whole-person health through the Amwell platform and its broad set of clinical programs.
Please explain how Hello Heart on the Amwell platform increases engagement in heart health and overall health (primary care, preventive care, and behavioral health).
Amwell's focus on providing robust whole-person care creates an enhanced, integrated member experience. With the Amwell and Hello Heart integration, members can self-enroll, or Amwell Medical Group providers can enroll members into Hello Heart during a virtual primary care visit, creating a more connected healthcare experience. Additionally, based on each individual’s blood pressure readings and normal trends, Hello Heart users can be driven back to a visit with an Amwell Medical Group provider for additional care.
Amwell clients can offer their members access to other digital clinical programs to support often correlated issues like behavioral health concerns and chronic conditions beyond cardiovascular disease, for holistic member health. It’s great for outcomes, too: enabling providers to “prescribe” programs like Hello Heart can lead to a significant increase in medication adherence.
How are Amwell and Hello Heart creating digital health skills for patients? What kinds of skills?
Amwell makes member journeys seamless and personal, while Hello Heart makes it easy and fun for people to track their heart health risk factors. Our Bluetooth-enabled heart health monitor only has one button and one blood pressure cuff. It’s simple to use but very powerful, too.
With our monitor, members can check their blood pressure and heart rate and even scan for irregularities in their heart rhythm anytime they want. This data and simple explanations are captured instantly in the app, removing the element of human error. The information is also available to member’s Amwell Medical Group care team, enabling the member’s provider to better support their care journey. Members can also integrate other data sources, such as their Apple Watch and medical records, to get an even more complete picture of their heart attack and stroke risk.
The more data we collect, the more members can see trends in their heart health and get tailored, AI-driven insights about eating, exercise, and stress management. They get in-app badges and rewards for tracking their progress over time. This experience is always unique to the members and their circumstances. We even have experience flows for women to help them better understand their hypertension risk during menopause and pregnancy.
Members can choose to keep their health information private, share it with family members, or even generate clinician reports so that, during medical visits, their clinicians have accurate and robust data and can make informed decisions about treatment and prevention. It’s all up to the member – they’re in charge of their heart health.
What are some limitations of digital health in improving heart disease?
An ongoing challenge has been the vast set of siloed care solutions in the market today. We’re starting to see those point solutions come together into more connected digital care journeys and ecosystems.
Another limitation is home internet and smartphone access. But we’ve made great strides nationally, and now more than 90% of Americans have a smartphone, making it one of the best tools to reach diverse populations.
The other factor is eligibility. Digital health programs like Hello Heart are offered to members by their health plans, but members may be unaware of all their covered benefits. With the unified experience Amwell offers, members can see what’s a benefit with real-time eligibility capabilities. We are working hard to partner with more health plans and employers to make Hello Heart accessible to as many high-risk members as possible.
What are some of the most promising emerging technologies or features we can anticipate from the partnership between Hello Heart and Amwell?
Many new features are on the horizon. With Amwell, we can be a deeply integrated partner and connect the Hello Heart program to a larger care portfolio and set of services. This provides a smooth member experience that simplifies enrollment, data sharing, progress tracking, and more for the member, for the health plan, and for the member’s providers and care team.
On the Hello Heart side, one of our most impactful features, which we plan to expand this year, is medication tracking and risk flagging. Only half of people with hypertension take their blood pressure medication as prescribed, even though medication is highly effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes. With medication tracking and reminders, we can make a big impact on adherence.
Looking toward the future, what major trends do you anticipate in the intersection of digital health, heart disease, and health equity over the next decade?
I see the Amwell platform as the gold standard in member experience and personalized access, driving improved discovery and engagement in the right set of solutions for the right members at the right time.
I want to see devices like Hello Heart’s in every American’s home. Expanding access to digital health, heart health education, and medication management tools is how we win. When people understand their risks, they make more informed choices. However, we need to ensure they have access to tools to understand and manage their risks, especially in more rural areas where there might not be a cardiologist for hundreds of miles.