Telemedicine for Cardiologists
- Continue to operate your practice through HIPAA-compliant video & audio sessions
- Attract new patients seeking virtual care
- Offer cardiology-specific telemedicine at no additional cost to your practice
Getting Started With Heartbeat
Expand your practice through the only telemedicine platform made by cardiologists for cardiologists. Start seeing patients in seconds with Instant Visit or offer full platform benefits when your patients download the app.
View our quick step-by-step guide below to learn how to easily begin seeing patients.
Step one
At your patient’s appointment time, get started by selecting the ‘Start Instant Visit’ button.
Step Two
Enter your patient’s mobile phone number and select ‘Start Instant Visit’ to send a visit link to your patient.
Step Three
When your patient taps the link, the Instant Visit begins. You can start their appointment immediately.
We’re Here To Support You
Heartbeat Health helps you to advance your cardiology care. Run your practice from wherever you are and stay connected with your patients, monitoring changes to their condition in real time.
Need additional information? Looking for help with next steps? Learn more in our FAQ below or review our best practices to ensure an exceptional patient experience.
For technical support or assistance, email us hello@heartbeathealth.com or call (646) 586-9908.
FAQ
Your full name and location details is how your patients are able to search for you. All other information, including email address and phone number, will only be used internally.
Yes, if for any reason you need to update your name or location you can do so once your account is created from your Profile screen.
Simply go to the login screen, select “Forgot Password,” and from there input your email address. We will send you a code to reset your password.
We believe in keeping things as simple as possible. One app, simple screens. We’re also uniquely designed for cardiology only. Supported by the American College of Cardiology as the go-to digital cardiology platform, we continue to create cardiology-specific functionality based on feedback from practicing cardiologists, releasing updates and features regularly to stay at the forefront of digital heart care.
Right now we’re not EMR-integrated, which tends to make platforms more complex. Instead, our platform complements use of your EMR to keep things as simple as possible for both you and your patients.
In the setting of COVID-19, billing has been an ever-evolving topic. We encourage you to go to the Medicare telemedicine fact sheet for up-to-date guidance. Reimbursement between private insurers varies per payer. Please connect with your affiliated system for additional details.
Yes, video communication is HIPAA-compliant.
Over 20,000 patients and growing.
We’re currently working on the technology to support foreign languages and the hearing-impaired.
Yes, we’ve optimized the Heartbeat experience for all levels of knowledge and understanding. Patients can meet with their cardiologist through an Instant Visit, which simply requires the click of a link received via text. Or they can download the app and easily setup an account for full platform benefits.
The Heartbeat App relies on the patient’s phone, but we’re working on adding device support for consumer medical devices, wearables, and smartwatches to make it easier for patients to share their numbers with their care team. We’ve intentionally built the app to work on iPhone and Android to have support for a wide range of users and their devices.
Once you slide your status to ‘Available’, you become accessible to your patients. Patients who search for you in the app will now see you’re online, available to meet and will then be able to join your queue. You will also have the ability to quickly see patients through Instant Visit.
This functionality is for patients who have downloaded the Heartbeat Health app prior to a visit. In this case, patients would search for you by name and then tap your name to join your waiting room. After they’ve done this, you will see them display in your waiting room or patient queue. In your patient queue you will see a list of patients waiting to see you, with the reason for their visit and their list of symptoms, if any. These responses come from a 2 question intake form that patents fill out in-app, after they’ve tapped your name.
If you are ‘Unavailable’, patients can still search for you and request an appointment, but you will not be able to conduct Instant Visits and patients will not be able to join your waiting room. If a patient attempts to meet with you when you are unavailable you will be notified by the app and have the option to become ‘Available’ when you’re ready.
If the patient is not available when you start the video, you will see the video launch, but you will be the only one in the room. The patient’s screen will be blank. Once they join the room, their video will activate.
On your first video call, the app will prompt you to allow access to your phone’s video functionality. Please make sure you allow access.
Yes, you can use AirPods or headphones to take these calls. You can also mute yourself if needed.
In the history section you’ll see all your past visits with patients conducted within the Heartbeat app. From this screen you will be able to select previous visits and see the recommendations associated with each visit, with the ability to resend the recommendations or adjust them if needed.
If you need to update patient recommendations, navigate to the History section of the app and find the specific patient you need to update. Select that visit– from there you can edit the recommendations and resend.
Email us at hello@heartbeathealth.com or call (646) 586-9908.
In the setting of COVID-19, CMS has expanded its guidelines to allow both new and established patients to be seen via a telehealth visit. As with reimbursement, this is an ever-evolving topic and is subject to change.
There are no firm guidelines as to who and who may not be seen via telehealth. Due to social-distancing efforts during COVID-19, many practices have converted the majority of their patient visits to telehealth visits. There are some limitations to the virtual physical exam — see our best practices tab for tips on how to handle this. However, it is important to uphold the standard of care — any acute emergent issues must still be referred to the emergency room.
Here are some things you can do to ensure the video visit runs smoothly:
- Abstract the patient visit beforehand. It will save time and provide focus.
- Set the scene. Make sure you use a HIPAA-friendly background, proper lighting, and keep the light in front of you. For instance, avoid sitting in front of windows which will make it difficult for the patient to see you.
- Eliminate distractions as much as possible.
- Find a spot with quality mobile/WiFi connection and privacy.
Simply mirror your in-office structure and keep the rhythm you’re used to. It’s helpful to get a sense of the patient’s goal for the visit so you ensure this is addressed. Additionally, speak a little bit slower as it may be harder for patients to understand you via a video call, particularly if there are any connectivity issues.
There many pieces of the physical exam that can be done virtually:
- First, observe if someone is anxious-appearing, speaking comfortably or using accessory muscles.
- For the HEENT exam, observe conjunctiva, lips for swelling, nasal flaring, and any visible neck masses.
- For the respiratory exam, observe inspiratory effort, work of breathing and accessory muscle use. You may even hear audible inspiratory or expiratory wheezing.
- For the cardiac exam, have the patient press on their legs to show you if they are edematous.
- Observe the skin for any visible rashes.
- For the neurologic exam, you can comment on alert and oriented and moving extremities. Many of the cranial nerves may also be tested (except for olfactory nerve).
Wearables allow us to get just about every vital sign and mobile telemetry at home. You should use both the clinical and commercial remote monitoring options. Many of the options out there are easy to use, even for those who are not tech-savvy.
A summary on telemedicine for cardiology professionals by Drs. Ami Bhatt, Andrew Freeman and Brendan Mullen can be found on the American College of Cardiology’s website.
Cardiosmart.org, created by the American College of Cardiology, is full of patient-friendly material on cardiac conditions and medications.
It’s helpful to summarize a few things: the patient’s current condition, any medication changes and why certain medications are important. Try having the patient repeat back to you their understanding of the above. It’s also beneficial to ensure the patient understands the follow-up plan and any next steps they need to take.
Instant Visits allow you to connect with patients immediately, without requiring them to download the app or create an account. Simply tap ‘Start Instant Visit’, enter your patient’s mobile phone number, then select ‘Start Instant Visit’ again. Your patient will receive a text message from Heartbeat Health with a link. Once they tap on the link, the visit will begin instantly.