Systole Health’s innovative approach to women’s heart health via virtual care

Women’s heart health often faces hurdles like long waits for doctor appointments, short consultations, and a lack of personalized care for preventing heart disease. Systole Health, a company focused on women’s heart health, is changing this with a new model that uses virtual group visits to offer better care.

This approach comes from the experiences of Dr. Simin Lee, Systole Health’s founder and CEO, who is trained in cardiology at Harvard. During the pandemic, she saw many women delay care, and they later faced issues like high cholesterol, diabetes, and weight gain—key risks for heart disease, which weren’t tackled due to slow access to treatments. With many patients and overwhelmed clinics, Dr. Lee needed a new way to give more people access to care without lowering its quality.

Her idea came from a virtual program at MassGeneral Brigham, where patients shared medical appointments. This setup allowed patients with similar issues to get advice, lifestyle tips, and personalized care together, which worked well in other medical fields. Traditional healthcare found it hard to expand this model, but Systole Health moved it online, creating an efficient way to tackle women’s heart disease.

Revolutionizing heart care with community

At the heart of Systole Health’s approach is the idea of shared medical visits. This strategy has been around since the 1990s but isn’t widely used in heart care. These virtual sessions bring women with heart disease together for weekly talks about important topics like managing blood pressure, weight, and lifestyle changes. The program runs for six weeks and is led by Dr. Lee and a health coach, mixing expert medical advice with support for changing habits.

Each session starts with a lesson on heart risk factors and proven prevention methods. Then, patients join in guided discussions to share experiences and get personalized tips. This supportive setting creates a community feeling, helping to lessen the loneliness that often comes with managing ongoing health issues. Plus, the group format makes better use of doctors’ time, which is a big improvement over the traditional one-on-one care model.

Outside of the group meetings, participants can stay connected with their doctor and peers through a chat platform. This feature allows for real-time conversations and support between sessions, which helps patients stick to treatment plans and encourages changes in lifestyle that lead to better heart health.

Systole Health has teamed up with Healthie, an electronic health record provider, to make these virtual visits easier. Their platform simplifies patient check-in and keeps conversations private, making it easier to document medical visits and follow up on care.

Funding boost for virtual heart care

Systole Health’s innovative approach has captured strong interest from investors, resulting in a $2 million pre-seed funding round led by Benchstrength. This round also includes contributions from January Ventures, J Ventures, and healthcare entrepreneur Tom X. Lee. This investment highlights the growing need for new healthcare methods that make care more accessible while ensuring quality.

Ken Chenault Jr., managing partner at Benchstrength, pointed out that Systole Health perfectly fits their investment strategy. He stressed that their approach can effectively address unmet needs in healthcare with a scalable, technology-driven solution. The focus on patient-centered care, especially for women who have been underserved in heart health, played a big role in securing this financial backing.

Looking ahead, Systole Health plans to expand further by forming alliances with healthcare systems and insurance providers. By showing how effective and affordable virtual group care can be, they aim to integrate their model into more healthcare systems. This will make sure more women can access consistent and comprehensive heart health care.

Systole Health has introduced a maintenance program for patients continuing group visits beyond the initial six weeks, recognizing that heart health requires ongoing care.

Dr. Simin Lee and co-founder Lauren McConnell, leveraging their telehealth expertise, are reshaping women’s heart care with a community-driven model that replaces brief, sporadic visits.

As heart disease remains the leading cause of death in women, the demand for accessible prevention grows. Systole Health’s virtual group care model offers a promising solution to this urgent health challenge.