Ascension, in partnership with Penn Medicine, is set to conduct the largest-ever study to test whether smartphone fitness trackers and behavioral nudges using gamification can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
This work is being led by the Ascension Clinical Innovation Institute (CII), which brings together cross-disciplinary experts across the organization under one structure focused on the pursuit of improving care and access through innovation.
“We are excited to partner with Penn Medicine on this innovative clinical trial to help support Ascension’s patients and their health at scale,” said Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at Ascension. Dr. Patel will serve as Ascension’s principal investigator for the trial.
This fully remote study will enroll 18,000 adults across Ascension’s patient network who have an elevated risk of experiencing a major heart event within the next decade. It will be supported by a $25 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
As a trusted partner in this groundbreaking research, Ascension will offer the trial to patients in communities we serve. Using only the technology already built into smartphones, participants will establish personalized step goals based on their baseline activity, and earn or lose points through a gamified system supported by daily texts and a designated support partner.
The trial aims to determine whether increasing daily steps can directly reduce heart attacks, strokes, heart failure hospitalizations, and deaths. While clinicians have long encouraged patients to increase physical activity, no large, controlled trial has provided definitive evidence that behavioral nudges can both increase exercise and reduce heart events. Patients will provide consent for electronic communications and can opt out at any time. Findings from this study could reshape how we use digital nudges to improve heart disease at scale.
