Lottie file
Innovatie
Heart Harmona
Opschaling
Heart Harmona is a research-driven digital health initiative combining behavioral science,
clinical knowledge, and digitalization. With VR sessions that simplify complex concepts and a
daily mobile app turning self-care into small routines, we support heart failure patients in
self-management and ease care team workload.
Digitalisering
(Tele)monitoring
Virtual reality
Zelfzorg
Regio Noord-Holland
Help ons versnellen
To move Heart Harmona from development to real-world testing, we need support in two areas:
1. Clinical pilots: Connections to hospitals or GP cooperatives already open to testing
digital self-management solutions. Having one or two partners willing to run early pilots
with us would be a major step toward validation.
2. Adoption strategy: Guidance from an advisor with deep knowledge of the Dutch
healthcare landscape; someone who understands the pathways, stakeholders, and
reimbursement dynamics, to ensure our implementation strategy is aligned and realistic.
We are not looking for broad introductions, but for a few targeted doors and insights that can
help us accelerate pilots and adoption in the right setting.
Saba Riazi
Probleemstelling
Heart failure is one of the most burdensome chronic conditions in Europe, both clinically and economically. Patients left the clinical settings are expected to manage a complex daily routine that includes medication adherence, dietary restrictions, symptom monitoring, and lifestyle changes. This self-care workload is overwhelming, especially when layered with fatigue, anxiety, and limited health literacy.
Despite receiving instructions, many patients struggle to translate them into action. As a result, one in five heart failure patients is readmitted within just 30 days. In the Netherlands alone, annual costs related to heart failure exceed €800 million, with tens of thousands of avoidable hospitalizations each year.
These breakdowns are not due to a lack of clinical expertise, but due to a mismatch between what the healthcare system expects and what patients are realistically capable of managing at home. While digital tools exist to track symptoms and vitals, they often arrive too late, alerting care teams after decline has already begun. What’s missing is proactive, behaviorally intelligent support that helps patients build habits before problems arise.
There is a critical need for tools that bridge the gap between clinical guidance and daily reality, supporting patients not just with information, but with emotional readiness and practical execution.
Oplossing
Heart Harmona is a hybrid digital intervention that transforms complex self-care instructions into simple, daily behaviors patients can actually sustain. It combines two key components:
1. Immersive VR sessions delivered in clinical settings at a teachable moment (e.g., after diagnosis or before discharge), using interactive storytelling and metaphor-based visuals to help patients emotionally process their condition and understand why daily actions matter.
2. A mobile companion app that supports patients at home through brief daily check-ins, medication reminders, symptom tracking, and emotionally engaging education. The app adapts to the patient’s progress and encourages habit formation through visual feedback, such as a growing “Tree of Life” that reflects their journey.
Unlike passive monitoring tools, Heart Harmona is designed to build health literacy, confidence, and intrinsic motivation. It brings behavioral science into practice by guiding patients through a staged process, starting with awareness and activation, and evolving into mastery and long-term integration.
By empowering patients and relieving pressure on care teams, Heart Harmona creates a more sustainable model for chronic disease management, one that focuses not only on avoiding crisis, but on enabling daily success.
VWS-missies
Heart Harmona contributes to several VWS missions by offering a realistic, behavior-focused approach to improving chronic care, starting with heart failure.
Our solution supports care in the home environment (Mission II) by helping patients carry out daily self-management at home through a mobile app. It complements clinical care but doesn’t depend on frequent in-person visits. This aligns with the broader push to shift more care into people’s living environments in a way that feels natural and low-pressure.
We also contribute to Mission III, by aiming to make patients with a chronic condition, in our case, heart failure, more confident and capable in managing their health. Our goal is not just to reduce hospital use, but to help people better understand their condition and stay more involved in their care.
At the same time, we believe that if patients become more self-reliant, this also helps care teams (Mission IV). We’re not trying to replace professionals, but to reduce unnecessary workload by catching early signs of disengagement or confusion before they lead to a crisis. Finally, while prevention is not our primary focus, the behavioral component of our intervention indirectly supports Mission I by helping people avoid deterioration and stay on track with healthier routines over time.
Heart Harmona is not a solution to everything, but it is a step toward more sustainable, scalable chronic care, one that’s grounded in patient reality and designed to work in the flow of everyday life.
Doelgroep
Our primary target group is patients living with heart failure, particularly those in the early stages after diagnosis or hospital discharge, when self-management routines are most critical and vulnerable to breakdown. We focus on patients who are still cognitively and physically able to engage with digital tools, but who may lack the behavioral support to turn medical advice into sustainable daily actions.
In the Netherlands, there are an estimated 240,000 people living with heart failure, with over 30,000 hospitalizations per year. Our realistic 3-year goal is to reach 10,000–15,000 patients, focusing first on those already under the care of providers who are open to innovation. While we have not yet deployed the product to patients, we have already spoken with patients and healthcare providers to validate the underlying need and approach. We are now preparing formal co-creation sessions to further develop the solution directly with patients and care teams.
Early feedback confirms that many patients feel overwhelmed by the demands of self-care and welcome tools that make those tasks more manageable and meaningful. Our goal is not just to reach patients, but to keep them engaged over time by designing something that fits into their real lives, not just their clinical files.
Verlaging zorgkosten
Heart Harmona reduces healthcare costs by supporting better self-management in heart failure patients, a group with high rates of avoidable hospitalizations and care use. When patients fail to follow self-care guidelines, the result is often deterioration that leads to emergency care, readmissions, and long-term complications.
By helping patients recognize symptoms earlier, take medications more consistently, and understand what actions to take at home, Heart Harmona aims to prevent avoidable clinical escalations. Even a small reduction in readmission rates would translate into significant savings, as each hospitalization costs between €7,000 and €10,000.
In addition, our approach reduces the burden on care teams by enabling earlier, lighter interventions (e.g., a quick check-in call when behavioral risk increases) instead of crisis management. Over time, this can help shift the model from reactive to proactive care, improving efficiency and reducing the strain on healthcare capacity.
While we are still in the early stages, our pilot phase will include indicators related to both patient outcomes and resource use, to help validate these cost-saving mechanisms in practice.
Verdienmodel
Heart Harmona will be offered as a licensable digital intervention to healthcare providers, insurers, or care networks looking to improve chronic care outcomes. Our pricing model is designed to align with Dutch care pathways and will evolve as we gather pilot data and explore reimbursement options.
We are currently estimating a cost of €150–€300 per patient per year (flat fee), depending on the level of customization, support, and integration required. This covers access to both the VR and mobile components, onboarding materials, and reporting features for care teams.
In the early stages, revenue will come from:
● Pilot partnerships with hospitals or care networks (flat fee or per-patient license)
● Subsidy-backed implementations (e.g. NZa innovation policy rule, IZA transformation projects)
Long-term, we aim for Heart Harmona to be integrated into chronic care bundles or reimbursed as an add-on to existing telemonitoring reimbursements, especially for heart failure. This would make it financially sustainable within the Dutch system while avoiding extra costs to patients or providers.
We are currently exploring which reimbursement codes (e.g., ZA 039133) and value-based care arrangements would be the best fit as we move toward broader implementation.
Geïnvesteerd vermogen
€ 0-10 duizend
Concurrentie
Heart Harmona operates in a space currently dominated by tools like Luscii, Sidekick Health, and Cognitant. These solutions focus on telemonitoring, remote symptom tracking, or general lifestyle coaching, and while they add value, they often leave out the hardest part of self-management: turning knowledge into consistent daily behavior.
Without Heart Harmona, most patients receive a short discharge consult, a leaflet, and, if they’re lucky, a monitoring app that alerts care teams only after problems have begun. What’s missing is proactive, behavioral engagement that prevents issues before they require care.
This has direct cost consequences:
● A single unplanned hospitalization costs €7,000–€10,000.
● An extra GP visit costs €40–60, often triggered by uncertainty or unmanaged symptoms.
● Frequent follow-up calls by nurses (10–15 minutes per patient) add up in time and staffing costs.
● Emergency visits avoided by early action could save €200–€400 per case.
By improving self-care adherence and catching behavioral disengagement early, Heart Harmona could conservatively prevent 1–2 hospitalizations per 100 patients per year, saving €70,000–€200,000 annually in a mid-sized population. Additional reductions in lower-tier costs (visits, calls, escalations) would push total savings even higher.
Unlike Luscii or Cognitant, which focus on data collection or passive content delivery, Heart Harmona actively builds patient capacity. We aim to reduce the need for intervention, not just optimize it.
Unieke kenmerken
Heart Harmona stands out by addressing the root behavioral drivers behind poor self-management, not just tracking symptoms or pushing reminders. What makes our innovation different is how we combine behavioral design, immersive learning, and emotional engagement into one cohesive experience.
● We use a proprietary behavior framework grounded in health psychology and implementation science to structure how patients are guided through stages of understanding, motivation, action, and maintenance. This is not off-the-shelf content; it’s carefully built to reflect the real-world challenges of chronic disease behavior change.
● Our use of VR storytelling is not for novelty, but for strategic impact. Patients experience metaphor-driven scenarios (e.g., fluid overload as a house flooding) that help them emotionally process their condition and connect the dots between daily actions and long-term outcomes. This creates understanding in minutes that would take hours to explain otherwise.
● The mobile app continues this journey at home; offering daily, low-friction prompts that build real habits, reinforced by visual feedback like a growing “Tree of Life.” This ecosystem supports both emotional readiness and daily execution, which are often treated separately in healthcare.
● Heart Harmona is built with accessibility in mind: high-contrast visuals, simple language, and interaction design for people with fatigue or low digital literacy.
● Finally, we’re not just building an app; we’re creating a hybrid digital pathway that can be integrated into discharge, follow-up, or chronic care programs. It complements existing telemonitoring tools by improving patient engagement, not replacing providers or duplicating functions.
Our innovation isn’t about more data, it’s about better behavior. That’s where outcomes begin to shift.
Intellectueel eigendom
At this stage, we have not filed for patents. However, we are actively developing and documenting our proprietary behavioral framework, including its staged design logic, interaction flow, and visual metaphors. These elements are being treated as trade secrets and protected through internal documentation and controlled sharing during development.
The brand name Heart Harmona is currently being used under common law trademark, with plans to register it formally once the business entity is finalized.
As we move into implementation, we are also exploring protection strategies for our VR story designs, app logic, and educational content structure, especially in the context of licensing to care providers.
Organisatie
Heart Harmona is structured as a small, nimble innovation team rooted in academia and
startup culture, with clear roles and the capacity to scale.
Legal form & base:
We are registered as a private limited company (BV) in the Netherlands. Our operational hub is in Amsterdam, aligned with our commitment to Dutch healthcare integration.
Core team (at launch phase):
We currently plan for a team of about 4 full-time equivalents (FTEs) during the pilot and early deployment phases. Key roles will include:
○ CEO / Project Lead – overall leadership, strategy, partnership development
○ Clinical / Medical Advisor – ensures clinical validity, domain alignment, access to care settings
○ Behavioral Scientist / Intervention Designer – leads the behavior framework, content logic, habit design
○ VR / Immersive Developer – builds, iterates, and maintains the VR experiences
○ Mobile App / Product Lead – manages app feature development, UX, iteration
○ Data / Analytics Engineer – implements metrics, monitoring, dashboards
○ Operations / Implementation Support (shared or part-time initially) – handles coordination with clinical partners, pilot logistics, compliance
Advisory and governance:
We will maintain an advisory board composed of clinicians (cardiologists, HF nurses), behavioral health experts, health policy / reimbursement specialists, and user representatives. This board guides clinical alignment, scientific rigor, and scalability decisions.
Scaling phase (year 2–3):
As Heart Harmona moves from pilot to commercialization, the team may expand to 8 FTEs, adding roles such as:
○ Business development / sales (liaison with hospitals, insurers)
○ Customer success / onboarding
○ Quality & regulatory / compliance
○ Marketing & communications
Partnerships and outsourcing:
Certain specialized tasks (e.g. 3D modeling, VR art assets) may be contracted externally. But core behavioral, clinical, and technical control remains in-house to preserve coherence and flexibility.
Beschrijving pilotfase
We have not yet conducted a formal pilot study with patients using the complete Heart Harmona system. However, we have taken intentional steps to ensure the concept is aligned with the needs of both patients and care providers before moving forward.
Over the past months, we’ve conducted:
● Patient interviews to better understand the emotional and behavioral challenges of living with heart failure
● Stakeholder discussions with healthcare professionals, behavior experts, and potential implementation partners
● Content validation with care teams to check the realism and acceptability of proposed self-management routines and metaphors
● Scenario walkthroughs of our VR experience to refine tone, clarity, and accessibility
These early signals have helped us shape the product in a way that resonates with users and stakeholders, even before full development is complete.
We are currently preparing for formal co-creation sessions with patients and care teams over the coming 3 months, followed by a structured pilot phase with one or more clinical partners. The goal of the pilot will be to test usability, patient engagement, and the practical integration of Heart Harmona into existing care pathways.
Betrokken partners
We have involved several healthcare-related partners to help shape the development and real-world relevance of Heart Harmona.
● Dutch Heart Foundation has provided a letter of support and is helping us connect to patient communities for co-creation and early feedback.
● Heart failure nurses and care providers have contributed to validating the practicality and tone of our educational content and behavioral prompts.
● We are also in discussion with potential clinical partners (including hospitals and GP cooperatives) to organize our first structured pilot in the coming months.
● In addition, behavioral scientists and academic mentors are closely involved in shaping the intervention logic, user flow, and validation plan.
While no formal pilot has been conducted yet, these partnerships have been essential in grounding the product in real-world care needs and setting the stage for upcoming testing.
Onderzoeksresultaten
A formal pilot has not yet been conducted, so there are no research results to report at this time. However, we have completed early-stage validation activities to ensure the concept is aligned with patient and provider needs. These include:
● Qualitative interviews with heart failure patients and healthcare professionals to understand behavioral pain points and daily challenges
● Scenario testing of VR content to assess emotional clarity and accessibility
● Stakeholder discussions to define realistic performance indicators for future pilots
The upcoming pilot will focus on:
● Usability of both the VR and mobile app components
● Patient engagement and perceived value in daily self-care
● Feasibility of integration into existing care workflows
● Preliminary impact on self-reported health literacy and confidence
Once completed, pilot outcomes will be documented and shared with partners, including clinical teams and potential funders.
Implementatiestrategie
Heart Harmona will be implemented through a staged adoption strategy that aligns with the Dutch healthcare financing and regulatory framework.
In the first phase (2026–2028), we aim to run commercial pilot implementations through the NZa’s “beleidsregel innovatie voor kleinschalige experimenten” (innovation policy rule for small-scale experiments). These pilots will be conducted in collaboration with health insurers and care providers, allowing us to:
● Validate clinical and behavioral effectiveness in real-world settings
● Measure outcomes related to patient engagement, adherence, and reduced care utilization
● Generate the necessary data to support long-term reimbursement positioning
In the scaling phase (post-2028), once effectiveness has been demonstrated, our goal is to embed Heart Harmona into existing care structures via:
● DBC (diagnose-behandelcombinatie) bundles, especially in the context of chronic heart failure care
● Care group contracts (e.g. with huisartsencoöperaties) under bundled payment models
● Integration into IZA transformation initiatives and other long-term care funding mechanisms
Patient onboarding will be flexible, depending on where they are in their care journey. Heart Harmona can be introduced:
● Post-diagnosis (via GPs or chronic care groups)
● Post-discharge (as part of a transition-of-care program)
● During outpatient consultations or cardiac rehabilitation programs
● Or as part of blended care pathways in long-term disease management
To support smooth implementation, we provide:
● A modular onboarding toolkit for providers (patient flyers, protocols, onboarding scripts)
● Lightweight dashboards to track patient engagement and risk signals
● Training and support for care teams during the initial rollout phase
In short, we are not just building a product, we are building an adoption pathway that fits the structure and incentives of the Dutch healthcare system, ensuring Heart Harmona can scale responsibly, sustainably, and without adding unnecessary burden to care teams.
Reeds in gebruik
Heart Harmona is not yet in use. We are currently preparing for our first pilot implementations in collaboration with care providers and insurers.
Behaalde prestaties of gewonnen awards
● Selected by the Amsterdam Academic Angel Fund (3xA) for coaching and application support, based on innovation potential and academic alignment
● Supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation through a letter of support and connection to patient communities
● Advised and supported by IXA (Innovation Exchange Amsterdam) as part of our validation process
● Invited to pitch at multiple academic innovation platforms, including VU’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and Demonstrator Lab.
● Developed in collaboration with academic partners at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, ensuring a research-based foundation
Productontwikkeling
As we scale, we plan to expand Heart Harmona in two main directions: feature depth and population breadth. New functionality under consideration includes:
● A caregiver module to involve family members in the self-management process, with shared progress tracking and simplified education
● Integration with telemonitoring platforms (e.g. Luscii, cVitals) to offer behavior + data in one pathway
● Personalized behavioral dashboards for care teams, highlighting early disengagement or patient-reported difficulties
● Adaptive content that evolves with the patient’s condition, for example, when transitioning from mild to moderate heart failure
In terms of target groups:
● We aim to reach additional heart failure patients across different care settings (e.g. cardiac rehab, e-health-supported home monitoring, nursing homes)
● In the long term, we see strong potential to adapt our behavioral framework and hybrid model to other chronic conditions with high self-management burden — such as COPD, diabetes, and long COVID
Our goal is to build not just a single app, but a scalable platform that blends emotional engagement, behavioral coaching, and low-friction tech — tailored to the real barriers patients face every day.
Internationale ambitie
While our immediate focus is on successful implementation within the Dutch healthcare system, Heart Harmona has clear international potential, especially in health systems facing similar challenges with chronic disease self-management.
We are already working with an experienced cardiologist in Washington, D.C., who has been involved as a medical advisor since the early development phase. He serves as a director of aheart clinic and has expressed strong interest in piloting Heart Harmona in the U.S. context once our initial pilots in the Netherlands are complete. We hold regular sync meetings and have begun mapping out potential partners and integration pathways in that region.
In addition, we recently welcomed a Dutch cardiologist based in Leiden as an advisor to support clinical alignment and help position Heart Harmona for broader adoption both nationally and, eventually, across borders.
Our international ambition is to begin small-scale pilot implementations in the U.S. within one year, once we have collected sufficient outcome data and implementation experience in the Netherlands. From there, we aim to explore scalable pathways in other European countries with similar reimbursement and chronic care challenges.