Cadence teams up with Community Health Systems to bring RPM platform for chronic care to thousands

A whopping six in ten Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease, costing the U.S. healthcare system $1.65 trillion each year.

Chronic care management startup Cadence has inked another partnership to support those patients while cutting down total spend.

Community Health Systems will deliver Cadence’s remote patient monitoring and virtual care solution to its thousands of patients nationwide, the companies announced Thursday.

The platform will be available across Community Health Systems' network of affiliated hospitals and physician offices in 16 states, and per Cadence’s design, will initially support patients with hypertension, heart failure, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The digital health startup has seen exponential growth since its launch in August, reaching unicorn status in December with $100 million in series B funding.

Co-founder and CEO Chris Altchek said the company’s platform was built with the country’s largest health systems in mind.

“The timing is right because health systems are now making fundamental decisions about their digital health platforms in an accelerated way,” he told Fierce Healthcare. “They’re thinking much more progressively about how to operate in a world where they need to be able to support patients continuously, and they’re looking for partners that can work with them across the continuum of what they do.”

Cadence’s platform collects vital signs and wellness data and integrates that information with the patient’s medical history to create personalized daily care plans. The model aims to reduce the likelihood of hospitalizations, decreasing the cost of care while keeping patients engaged.

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Many startups and seasoned players alike are looking to place bigger bets on RPM technologies for managing chronic conditions.

Cadence’s core differentiation, Altchek said, is its “flexible platform that can integrate any device, be optimized for any disease, and deliver care along any care pathway”—a feat he said other companies can’t boast.

And their RPM solution may tackle four of the most common chronic diseases in the U.S., but the startup isn’t stopping there.

“We manage four conditions today, and we’re going to manage a lot more in the future,” Altchek said.

The startup also inked a partnership with physician support company LifePoint Health alongside its August launch, first aimed at increasing adherence to heart failure therapies with the ultimate goal of connecting more than 100,000 patients with Cadence’s solution.

“Our partnership with Cadence offers powerful technology and virtual care to support patients in the prevention, monitoring and management of chronic conditions,” said Lynn Simon, M.D., president of clinical operations and chief medical officer at Community Health Systems, in a statement. “Daily and continuous monitoring at home can improve a patient’s overall health and outcomes and also enable early interventions when necessary.”

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In the coming months, Altchek is focused on continuing to hire new talent—the company has doubled its headcount every quarter, he said—proving out clinical results, and adding partnerships with more health systems.

“The biggest and most progressive health systems are very eager to expand their technology and service capabilities this way because it’s ultimately very good for patient care,” he said.

Given the typical pace of healthcare, Altchek quipped, it could take two decades to operationalize and scale remote patient monitoring solutions for most or all the patients with chronic conditions that need them.

“But with Cadence, we can make it happen a lot faster,” he said.