iRhythm Supports Cardiac Patients During the COVID-19 Crisis, While Keeping Clinicians Safe, Through Zio Virtual Platform

iRhythm Technologies, Inc., a leading digital health care solutions company focused on the advancement of cardiac care, announced its virtual platform to support patients and clinicians in the wake of COVID-19 by offering home enrollment for the company’s Zio XT and Zio AT heart monitoring devices. Since patients with heart conditions are a particularly vulnerable population for COVID-19 and should avoid unnecessary visits to a doctor’s office, they can receive and apply the device from the comfort of their homes. In addition, during this public health emergency, physicians treating COVID-19 patients can now use Zio AT mobile cardiac telemetry to monitor their heart rhythms in both inpatient and outpatient settings, freeing up hospital beds and additional resources.

iRhythm is providing Zio AT mobile cardiac telemetry solutions to monitor the near real-time heart health of severely ill COVID-19 patients, providing a multi-campus solution for Montefiore Health System and enhancing cardiac monitoring for these patients. This initiative, developed by experts at Montefiore, is rolling out in a new inpatient program at three hospitals within Montefiore. The devices, which can be placed in about five minutes per patient, have no loose wires or batteries and require no maintenance, allowing healthcare workers to safely monitor a patient’s heart rhythm while also limiting their exposure to the virus. Because this technology provides remote readings, Montefiore can care for patients on various units across all three of their campuses from one centralized location, conserving resources while also providing high-level care to their patients. Upon discharge, the patient can continue wearing this device and be observed by a Montefiore cardiologist, providing additional monitoring in the crucial days immediately following discharge.

“Early in the outbreak of this pandemic, we recognized a need to deploy existing technologies to provide better care to our COVID-19 patients at risk for cardiac complications who were being housed on numerous units across three campuses. These patients require both inpatient and outpatient monitoring because we still don’t know the extent to which they’re at risk for additional cardiac problems. In addition to being able to more closely monitor our patients, clinicians and nurses are in the hospital room with COVID-19 patients for up to 10 minutes, twice daily, to monitor them with a 12-lead ECG; now, we’re in the room once and for roughly five minutes, without compromising the care provided to the patient. Zio’s heart monitoring solution is making a real difference in not only our patients’ health, but also in the health of our staffers by limiting our exposure to this virus,” said Kevin J. Ferrick, MD, Director, Electrocardiogram Section, Montefiore Health System, and Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

COVID-19 has been associated with cardiac effects such as atrial fibrillation, ventricular arrhythmias, ventricular ectopy, and torsades de pointe (TdP). For patients with underlying heart conditions, COVID-19 can have fatal consequences. In addition, some medications may lead to QT prolongation as a side effect, causing the heart muscle to take longer than normal to recharge between beats. Monitoring of this electrical disturbance is typically performed by a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), exposing nurses and ECG technicians to multiple points of contact with COVID-19 patients each day, or by using high-demand telemetry beds.

Meanwhile, patients with heart conditions are at high risk for complications if they get the virus. Home enrollment with Zio XT and Zio AT devices allows clinicians to monitor both of these patient populations’ heart health remotely, powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI). This provides four key benefits:

• Provides clean, single-use devices for each patient
• Reduces patient and staff exposure by eliminating office visits
• Eliminates need for staff to clean reusable monitors that may carry the COVID-19 virus for up to 2 to 3 days
• Ensures patients continue to receive access to necessary cardiac monitoring

“COVID-19 has demonstrated clinicians’ clear need for help, both on the frontlines and in remotely caring for patients from the safety of their own homes. iRhythm is focusing 100% on helping clinicians care for patients during this pandemic by providing the Zio platform to patients that need monitoring both at home and in hospitals,” said Judith C. Lenane, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of iRhythm. “Remote heart monitoring and care helps to keep both patients and clinicians as safe as possible, which is more important now than ever before.”