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HEART HEALTH MOBILEAn interactive, educational, monitoring and gaming application to improvecardiovascular healthHeart disease and stroke are the first and fourthleading causes of mortality in the United States,making cardiovascular disease (CVD) responsible forone out of every three deaths in the country. Eachyear, over two million people suffer from heartattacks and strokes, while approximately 2,200 peopledie from CVD. The financial implications are alsolarge; over $444 billion is spent in health careexpenditures and lost productivity due to these noncommunicablediseases.To tackle the burden of CVD, the Department of Healthand Human Services (HHS) launched the Million Heartsnational public-private initiative in September 2011, witha goal of preventing one million heart attacks andstrokes in the U.S. over a five-year period. To helpconsumers take charge of their heart health, theinitiative challenged developers to create an applicationto assist consumers in this process. The HHS Office ofthe National Coordinator for Health InformationTechnology, in partnership with Million Hearts,organized the Million Hearts Risk Check Challenge. Inresponse, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation(MCRF) developed the Heart Health Mobile (HHM)application and won the competition. HHM was firstreleased in February 2013 for Apple products andexpanded to a web-based (HTML5) version in March2013 that works on other devices.Implementation date: February 2013About Heart Health MobileMCRF’s Heart Health Mobile application is designed toachieve the following:1. Reach individuals across the country, taking specialaim at those who may be at risk for CVD and butare unaware of their risk,2. Motivate at-risk individual to obtain an accurate riskassessments, and3. Direct consumers to nearby community pharmaciesand other locations that offer affordable andconvenient blood pressure and cholesterolscreenings.HHM is currently available as a downloadable mobileapplication through the Apple Store or as a web app atwww.HeartHealthMobile.com. Its interface provides theuser with a brief assessment of CVD risk, taking intoaccount self-reported behavioral, familial and biometricrisk factors, including blood pressure and lipids. Basedon the level of CVD risk, users are directed to nearbycommunity pharmacies, clinics and other locations formore advanced CVD risk factor screenings,assessments, and treatments. The app also providesbasic health education materials on key CVD risk factormanagement topics including hypertension, dyslipidemia,12 mHEALTH COMPENDIUM | VOLUME 3