Story Health partners with WVU to expand its virtual cardiac care platform

Story Health’s platform has already been integrated into the WVU Medicine system

Story Health is a company that uses virtual care and AI technology to bring high acuity cardiac care into the patient's home.

This is important because heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, as well as most racial and ethnic groups, but its even worse for older people: those aged 65 and older are much more likely than younger people to suffer a heart attack, to have a stroke, or to develop coronary heart disease and heart failure. And that's the population most likely to have trouble going out to see their doctor and to need constant care.

Now the company is going to be expanding its reach through a newly announced partnership with the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, a health technology and services company, with the goal of improving access to specialty care for patients with heart failure. 

The initial work between the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and Story Health, which is already underway, will see the implementation of Story Health’s platform into the WVU Medicine system. The two companies are already saying they will have whitepapers with the program results published sometime this year.

Founded in 2020, Story Health works with health systems so that clinicians can introduce Story Health to their patients, either during a visit or virtually between visits. The clinician explains how it works, and the fact that it allows them to optimize their care between clinic visits, after which the patient goes home with a welcome kit including medication organization tools, remote monitoring devices, and a connection to their care team via SMS on their phone.

The company's health coaching team schedules an initial phone call with the patient to walk them through the process and then the patient starts their care plan. They're guided through escalating therapies, taking readings at home, and getting lab work done.

If the patient experiences challenges with symptoms or some other social barrier gets in the way, Story Health's system will help with clinical escalations and/or logistical solutions.

The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute is an academic health institution and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded center that has 32 clinics across a five-state area, 1,500 affiliated team members, over 100 medical providers, and saw over 375,000 patient visits in 2022.

The goal of the partnership is to extend access and improve health outcomes, with the goal of improving heart function and reducing hospitalizations. To facilitate this, WVU Heart and Vascular clinicians and Story Health coaches will work together to personalize patient treatments, combining structured clinical pathways, monitoring, and patient engagement.

“We are working with WVU Medicine on a new care model that transfers more care into the
home, where we can increase access, reduce inequities, and better leverage scarce specialist
resources,” Tom Stanis, CEO and co-founder of Story Health, said in a statement.

“We look forward to collaborating with the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute to help scale the care for their heart failure patients.” 

Earlier this year, Story Health partnered with Pearl Health, a company that helps PCPs transition to value-based care, to provide patients with continuous cardiovascular care. 

(Image source: wvumedicine.org)