The Heart of the Matter: Why Cardiovascular Disease Is Digital Health’s Next Frontier

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming approximately 916,000 lives in 2023 and affecting nearly one in two American adults. It is not a single condition but a constellation of disorders, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, arrhythmias, and peripheral artery disease, that together impose a staggering $627 billion annual burden in direct healthcare costs and lost productivity. By 2050, that figure is projected to nearly triple to $1.8 trillion as the population ages and prevalence rises.

Despite decades of clinical innovation, from statins and ACE inhibitors to GLP-1 receptor agonists and transcatheter aortic valve replacement, the delivery model for cardiovascular care has remained largely episodic and reactive. The tools have gotten better; the system has not. CVD mortality declined steadily through 2019, then reversed during the pandemic, and today’s rates remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. Heart failure 30-day readmission rates have hovered near 20% for a decade, despite CMS penalties in place since 2013. Per-capita CVD spending averages roughly $4,800 per patient per year, straining payers and health systems alike.

Of the $627 billion total CVD burden, approximately $450 billion flows through direct healthcare costs, concentrated in three addressable categories. Roughly $195 billion is driven by high-cost acute events: heart failure hospitalizations averaging $10,000–$18,000 per stay and acute myocardial infarctions with bypass surgery reaching approximately $72,000. Another $170 billion reflects chronic disease progression, with 6.7 million Americans now living with heart failure, prevalence projected to increase 46% by 2030, and median annual costs of $24,000 per patient. The remaining $85 billion stems from avoidable downstream utilization: one in five heart failure patients is readmitted within 30 days, and 78% of hospitals have been penalized under CMS’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.

CVD care today follows a reactive, episodic loop. Undetected risk leads to an acute event, which triggers hospital stabilization, followed by incomplete specialist follow-up, a prolonged care gap with no longitudinal owner, and ultimately a repeat event. Responsibility is diffused across primary care, general cardiology, subspecialists, hospitals, and rehabilitation settings, with no single entity accountable for outcomes over time. Most of the cost accrues not during clinical encounters but between them. Hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and early heart failure can remain clinically silent for years until they present as high-cost acute events. Guideline-directed medical therapy optimization, the established standard of care for heart failure, requires multiple titration touchpoints that rarely happen consistently, leaving patients on sub-therapeutic doses. The current model relies on “snapshot medicine”: a single blood pressure reading or one-time rhythm check during an office visit, rather than continuous physiologic signals that could drive timely intervention.

For payers, CV events create unpredictable spikes in total cost of care, and preventable admissions go undetected because existing utilization management tools fail to intercept deterioration upstream. For providers operating under value-based arrangements, avoidable hospitalizations and readmissions directly erode financial performance, yet the category resists continuous management that drives sustained adherence, medication titration, and longitudinal behavior change. Compounding the challenge is a widening workforce gap: cardiology faces a projected shortage of 8,700 specialists by 2037, wait times have risen 26% since 2017 to an average of 33 days, roughly half of U.S. counties have zero cardiologists, and 65% cite bureaucratic tasks as their top burnout driver. The scalability constraint is not data generation; it is the ability to translate signals into timely, prioritized clinical action.

CVD also rarely travels alone. The American Heart Association’s Cardio-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) framework captures the profound overlap between cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic conditions: 26% of U.S. adults have at least one cardiac, renal, or metabolic condition, with 1.5% carrying all three, a figure that has doubled since 1999. Forty-four percent of diabetes patients develop chronic kidney disease, and 25–40% of heart failure patients have comorbid diabetes. Managing CVD in isolation is clinically artificial and economically inefficient. Biological interdependence demands integrated, multi-condition coordination.

These structural challenges are converging with four inflection points that are reshaping the category simultaneously.

1. Disease boundaries are collapsing: the AHA’s integrated CKM framework and expanding outcomes evidence, including the landmark SELECT trial demonstrating cardiovascular benefits of GLP-1 receptor agonists, are pulling weight management, hypertension, diabetes, and lipid management into a single clinical and economic pathway.
2. Value-based care and reimbursement models are shifting, with rising Medicare Advantage penetration placing providers at increasing financial risk and making admission avoidance and medication optimization economically material.
3. Specialist capacity constraints are forcing health systems to adopt tech-enabled triage, delegation models, and hybrid care as essential infrastructure.
4. Clinical guidelines are increasingly defining cardiovascular disease earlier in its trajectory, expanding who qualifies for monitoring and reframing care from event response to continuous risk management.

Together, these forces are creating a window for a new model of cardiovascular care. In this model, risk is identified systematically in primary care, the home serves as a core site of care through wearables and continuous monitoring, and medication optimization is protocolized through team-based titration at scale. Hybrid cardiology extends specialist capacity by reserving in-person visits for high-acuity cases. At 7wire Ventures, we believe this convergence represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine how cardiovascular care is organized and delivered.

Stakeholder Priorities & Partnerships in Cardiovascular Care

As cardiovascular care shifts toward continuous, technology-enabled models, every major healthcare stakeholder is actively deploying new solutions. Their motivations differ, but their strategies are increasingly complementary, creating a growing ecosystem of partnerships between incumbents and innovators.

Consumers: Consumers are increasingly taking an active role in managing their cardiovascular health, utilizing wearables, AI-enabled health apps, and virtual cardiovascular care programs to track blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart rhythm. This consumer-driven demand for real-time health data is enabling earlier detection and more personalized care. Hello Heart exemplifies this shift, pairing a connected blood pressure monitor with an AI-powered app that delivers personalized nudges, medication reminders, and cholesterol tracking directly to consumers.

Health Plans: Payers are leveraging predictive analytics, AI-based risk stratification, and value-based digital care models to proactively manage high-risk cardiovascular populations, reduce acute events and readmissions, and lower total cost of care. Health plans face particular urgency here as CV events drive disproportionate cost volatility, and existing utilization management tools often fail to intercept deterioration upstream. Karoo Health is working directly with health plans as a value-based cardiovascular care company, combining wraparound care teams with its proprietary platform to manage cardiac spend for capitated lives while improving health outcomes. The model demonstrates how payers can partner with specialized platforms to shift from reactive claims management to proactive population health.

Providers: Providers are deploying AI-driven diagnostics, remote patient monitoring, and virtual cardiac rehabilitation to identify risk earlier, manage chronic CV conditions at scale, reduce readmissions, and alleviate clinician workload. With a projected shortage of 8,700 cardiologists by 2037, technology adoption is becoming an operational necessity. Rush University System for Health, a 7wire Strategic Limited Partner, partnered with Cadence to launch a remote patient monitoring and virtual care program supporting patients with hypertension, heart failure, and diabetes. The partnership extends specialty care beyond the hospital, turning the home into a continuous site of care and reflecting Rush’s strategic conviction around hybrid, value-based care delivery.

Employers: Employers are partnering with digital cardiovascular health platforms to offer preventative screenings, lifestyle interventions, and virtual care that improve workforce health and mitigate rising cardiometabolic-related healthcare spend. With cardiovascular conditions among the largest drivers of employer healthcare costs, self-insured employers in particular are seeking solutions that demonstrate measurable ROI. 9amHealth, a 7wire portfolio company, is addressing this need by delivering integrated cardiometabolic care, including at-home labs, prescriptions, and ongoing support from a multidisciplinary team. Members have achieved an average of 14.5% body weight loss over eight months, demonstrating the kind of measurable clinical outcomes that justify employer investment.

Pharma / MedTech: Pharmaceutical and medical technology companies are integrating AI, real-world data, and digital therapeutics to enhance drug development, identify eligible patients earlier, improve medication adherence, and demonstrate real-world cardiovascular outcomes. Astellas Pharma is expanding beyond traditional therapeutics through its Rx+ Business Accelerator, which develops standalone digital health solutions independent of its pharmaceutical business. Astellas partnered with Eko Health and Welldoc to launch DIGITIVA, an FDA-listed heart failure management solution that combines a dedicated health coach, Eko’s AI-powered digital stethoscope, and Welldoc’s mobile platform to monitor for signs of deterioration and enable earlier intervention. DIGITIVA patients have experienced cost avoidance of up to $8,500 per patient per year, illustrating how pharma players are moving beyond the pill to combine diagnostics with digital engagement.

Legislators: Policymakers are advancing technology-enabled cardiovascular care through reimbursement for remote monitoring, expanded telehealth access, and data-driven public health initiatives to reduce CV morbidity, mortality, and disparities. CMS’s expansion of RPM billing codes and continued support for telehealth flexibilities introduced during the pandemic have provided a reimbursement foundation for many of the digital CVD solutions gaining traction. As value-based care models expand and evidence accumulates for remote monitoring and AI-driven tools, we expect continued legislative tailwinds that support adoption of digital cardiovascular care infrastructure.

Technology Enabling the Shift to Continuous Care

Four technology pillars are enabling the transition from reactive, episodic CVD management to proactive, continuous care:

1. AI-powered cardiology, encompassing diagnostics, risk prediction, decision support, and workflow automation, represents a $1.7 billion market growing at 31% annually.
2. Wearable technology and monitoring, with over 180 million smartwatches shipped globally in 2024, is generating continuous physiologic signals for blood pressure, cardiac rhythm, and activity.
3. Telehealth and remote care have seen sustained adoption since the pandemic, with a majority of cardiology practices now offering some form of virtual visits.
4. And connected systems, linking devices, EHRs, and care teams into longitudinal pathways, are powering a remote patient monitoring market projected to reach $56.9 billion by 2030.

Critically, AI is evolving beyond standalone diagnostics to serve as workflow infrastructure, delivering prioritized alerts, guideline-driven nudges, and automated triage directly into clinical workflows so that scarce specialist capacity is directed toward the highest-risk patients.

Cardiovascular Disease Digital Health Landscape

Investor conviction in digital CVD solutions is accelerating. Total CVD digital health funding surged to $3.6 billion in 2025, with deal volume reaching a six-year high of 165 transactions. Funding increased 3.3x from 2022 to 2025, and 31% of 2025 deals were later-stage (Series C and beyond), signaling that leading platforms are scaling and attracting growth capital. We segment the CVD digital health market into four key categories.

Screening, Diagnostics & Clinical AI Tools ($508M in recent private funding). AI-driven tools for cardiovascular risk stratification, imaging and ECG interpretation, and clinical decision support that accelerate diagnosis and extend specialist capacity into settings without cardiologists on-site. Notable companies include:

• Cleerly: AI-powered coronary artery disease analysis platform that non-invasively quantifies atherosclerotic plaque using CT angiography, enabling earlier and more precise risk stratification
• Viz.ai: AI-powered clinical decision support that analyzes medical imaging to detect time-sensitive conditions like large vessel occlusion stroke and aortic disease, automatically routing findings to the right specialist
• Ultromics: AI echocardiography analysis platform that detects heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and cardiac amyloidosis, conditions frequently missed by traditional reads

Longitudinal Cardiovascular Care Platforms ($122M in recent private funding). Virtual and hybrid cardiology platforms that own longitudinal patient relationships, delivering specialty access, transitions-of-care management, and population-level CVD outcomes under value-based arrangements. This is the earliest-stage segment by maturity, but the highest-conviction category for 7wire given the future models of care these companies are building. Notable companies include:

• Heartbeat Health: Provides cardiology-as-a-service by embedding virtual cardiologists into primary care workflows
• Chamber Cardio: Partners with cardiology practices to manage the transition to value-based care; closed a $60 million Series A in February 2026
• Story Health: Virtual specialty care platform focused on guideline-directed medication optimization for heart failure and other chronic cardiovascular conditions

Platforms like these are taking accountability for outcomes and total spend, not just enabling individual clinical tasks.

Cardiac Rehabilitation & Lifestyle Intervention ($212M in recent private funding). Patient-facing programs for cardiac rehabilitation, dietary management, cardiometabolic lifestyle change, and sustained behavior modification. The growing adoption of GLP-1 receptor agonists for cardiovascular risk reduction is further accelerating demand for wraparound cardiometabolic support programs across this segment. Notable companies include:

• Noom: Cognitive behavioral therapy and AI coaching platform for weight, blood pressure, and cardiometabolic risk
• Vida Health: Whole-person care model treating mental and physical conditions with a strong cardiometabolic focus for plans and employers

Monitoring & Medication Optimization ($1.4B in recent private funding). The largest segment, representing 55% of 2025 CVD digital health investment. Clinician-facing platforms and connected devices for continuous physiologic monitoring, medication titration, and proactive intervention between visits. This segment most directly operationalizes the continuous care model, converting physiologic signals into clinical action. Notable companies include:

• VitalConnect: Continuous biosensors for ECG, heart rate, respiratory rate, and activity monitoring in hospital and post-acute settings
• AliveCor: Maker of KardiaMobile, the world’s most clinically validated personal ECG device, enabling AFib and arrhythmia detection outside the clinic

7wire Ventures Predictions

1. Cardiovascular disease care will increasingly become positioned for value-based alignment, driven by proactive and longitudinal management. Episodic, reactive delivery is becoming financially unsustainable as Medicare Advantage penetration rises and value-based contracts expand. Admission avoidance and medication optimization are shifting from clinical aspirations to material financial imperatives. As risk moves upstream, prevention and proactive management become rational in ways they never were under fee-for-service – where the incentive was volume, not outcomes. We expect a new class of longitudinal CVD platforms to become core infrastructure for payers and providers operating at risk, redefining the financial logic of cardiovascular care around sustained outcomes rather than episodic intervention.
2. CVD’s overlap with comorbidities will accelerate the development of multi-condition care models. The metabolic, cardiovascular, and renal boundaries are collapsing, as evidenced by the AHA’s CKMH framework and the emergence of GLP-1 receptor agonists as cardiovascular drugs. Platforms that coordinate across prevention, pharmacotherapy, and monitoring will hold a structural advantage over point solutions. The platforms that can coordinate across these overlapping conditions – rather than treating each in a silo – will hold a structural advantage as the market matures.
3. Cardiologists will lean further into digital tools to extend their capabilities. Workforce constraints are not going away. The projected shortage, rising wait times, and burnout will make digital tools operational necessities rather than optional enhancements. The winning solutions will be those that meet cardiologists where they work – fitting into existing workflows rather than adding to an already unsustainable administrative burden. As cardiologists remain the leaders of their patients’ care teams, technology will extend their reach rather than replace their judgment.

Cardiovascular disease is not merely the deadliest and costliest condition in American healthcare; it is among the most structurally mismanaged. The gap between therapeutic innovation and delivery-model modernization represents both a challenge and an opportunity. As value-based incentives sharpen, disease boundaries collapse, workforce constraints intensify, and technology matures, the conditions are aligning for a fundamental transformation of how CVD care is organized, delivered, and financed. At 7wire Ventures, we are closely tracking the companies and models positioned to lead this shift, and we believe the next generation of cardiovascular care will be defined not by better drugs or devices alone, but by the platforms that make continuous, accountable, multi-condition care the default.