ONE PLATFORM · A DEFINED FIRST PILOT
HEART RESERVE brings education, a continuing Heart Story and patient advocacy together. Its hospital edition is designed to turn a discharge plan into understood, completed and reviewed care.
Our goal: fewer avoidable complications and readmissions, better patient experience and lower total cost. The pilot must establish whether the service can deliver safely and affordably before claiming those results.
Working prototype and planning assumptions · Reviewed October 22, 2026 · No established HEART RESERVE savings or clinical outcomes
START WITH THE PATIENT
CDC’s 2022 maternal mortality review data show 9.5% of pregnancy-related deaths at 1–6 days postpartum, 20.6% at 7–42 days and 37.8% at 43–365 days. Together, these postpartum intervals account for 67.9% of reviewed deaths (calculated from the reported percentages). This is timing after pregnancy, not timing after hospital discharge. CDC data →
Among deaths with a known cause, mental-health conditions accounted for 27.7%; cardiovascular conditions, including cardiomyopathy, 16.6%; infection 12.2%; hemorrhage 10.9%; embolism 7.3%; and hypertensive disorders 5.1%. These are overall pregnancy-related causes, not a ranking restricted to deaths after discharge. A maternal program therefore needs behavioral-health referral capacity alongside cardiovascular follow-up, symptom education and urgent clinical assessment. The 90-day paid pilot must end with an accepted handoff; it does not cover the whole year of risk.
| Published finding | What it measures | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| $15,200 average readmission cost | AHRQ: 30-day all-cause adult readmissions in the U.S., 2018. Hospital resource cost, estimated from charges; not insurer payment. AHRQ Statistical Brief 278 | Historical, broad hospital context. This is neither a postpartum-specific cost nor a current NJ hospital price. Do not use it as the amount saved by preventing one local admission. |
| 0.36% → 0.80% | Estimated U.S. hypertension-related postpartum readmissions within 42 days of delivery discharge, 2010 to 2019; study published in 2025. Deshpande and colleagues | Shows a growing burden across the study population. It is not the baseline rate for the proposed higher-risk pilot or evidence that an app prevents those events. |
| $32.3 billion modeled societal burden | Nine maternal morbidity conditions for U.S. pregnancies and births in 2019, from conception through five years postpartum. Includes medical and nonmedical effects on mothers and children. O’Neil and colleagues, 2022 | Explains the broader consequences of illness. It is not annual hospital expenditure, maternal claims alone or a recoverable savings pool for this program. |
The local number is still needed. Ask the partner for eligible discharge volume, 30/90-day ED and readmission rates, diagnoses, staff workload, actual variable hospital expense and complete health-plan paid claims. Keep maternal and infant costs separate. Match the population, calendar period and follow-up window.
Before discharge: understand the plan and the contact route. At home: recognize warning signs, complete prescribed follow-up and get help with medicines, transport or unclear instructions. Over time: practice heart-health habits and carry pregnancy history into future care. These are proposed mechanisms to evaluate; finishing a lesson does not establish a prevented admission.
Life’s Essential 8 covers nutrition, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep, weight, cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure. Recovery goals must fit the individual care plan. American Heart Association · CDC maternal warning signs
EARLIER COSTING EXAMPLE · SUPERSEDED
Illustrative planning envelope: 50 service recipients and 50 concurrent current-care comparison participants; 90-day follow-up, within a 12-month feasibility project. Replace every allowance with a scoped quote. This is not an awarded grant, a recurring license price or a new round-the-clock clinical team.
| Budget line | Planning assumption | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| HEART RESERVE content & training | 200 hours × $125 | $25,000 |
| Platform configuration & pilot access | Provisional technology-vendor allowance | $30,000 |
| Incremental clinical & outreach work | 350 hours × $100, within an existing staffed service | $35,000 |
| Cuffs & connectivity | 50 recipients × $160 | $8,000 |
| Evaluation & claims analysis | 160 hours × $125 | $20,000 |
| Implementation & contracting review | 80 hours × $125 | $10,000 |
| Language & access support | Provisional allowance | $7,000 |
| Contingency | 11.1% of the $135,000 direct-cost subtotal | $15,000 |
| Total illustrative budget | Subject to scope, staffing and quotes | $150,000 |
$150,000 ÷ 100 = $1,500 per evaluation participant; ÷ 50 = $3,000 per service recipient. These include development and evaluation. The $25,000 HEART RESERVE allocation is 16.7% of the total and pays for defined deliverables; it is not personal take-home pay.
Months 1–3: contracting, configuration and rehearsal. Months 4–8: staged enrollment. Months 9–11: complete the last episodes and handoffs. Month 12: operational analysis. Complete financial analysis after agreed claims runout.
Quote the recurring episode separately: platform + HEART RESERVE license + clinical staffing and coverage + devices + access support + reporting + overhead, with margin stated separately. Proposed payment is per activated 90-day episode; activation, cancellation, extension and reporting terms require agreement. A chat or warning-sign report should not create a charge.
Release setup funding against accepted deliverables. Avoid charging clinical services both in claims and in the program fee. Surgical recovery requires its own scope and budget. Any first-year continuation needs a separately funded service.
Read the proposed licensing terms →The primary measure is clinician-specified early BP evaluation completed and clinically reviewed by its due date. Also measure unresolved barriers, accepted handoffs, understanding, feeling heard, language/channel access, delivery failures, safety incidents and staff minutes. Track 30/90-day ED visits, readmissions and total maternal paid claims as exploratory outcomes.
Compare the full service with the care and benefits members actually receive. Analyze all assigned participants where appropriate; show activation and missing data separately. A 100-person feasibility project cannot establish mortality benefit or reliable savings from uncommon events. Set renewal thresholds and an affordable recurring price before enrollment.
Review measure definitions →A WORK PLAN THAT RECONCILES TO THE BUDGET
This proposed allocation schedules the existing $150,000 envelope. It does not add a second budget or establish contracted milestone payments. Months are relative to project kickoff; overlapping preparation work is counted once.
01 · MONTHS 1–2
Agree the first population, existing-care comparison, responsibilities, baseline data and evaluation plan. Lisa defines the education and advocacy contribution with the clinical and technology leads.
Deliverables: written scope, role map, measure definitions and cost assumptions.
Decision: the proposed partner accepts the scope and identifies clinical coverage and a viable data-access route before configuration proceeds.
02 · MONTHS 2–3
Configure the licensed platform, review teaching content, train the receiving team and prepare devices and accessible materials.
Deliverables: approved content, staff training, device workflow and documented rehearsal results.
Decision: the clinical lead confirms coverage, consent and data arrangements; all agreed safety-critical tests pass before enrollment. Unresolved critical failures delay launch.
03 · MONTHS 4–8
Enroll toward 50 service recipients and 50 current-care comparison participants. The existing clinical service delivers the funded follow-up; Lisa supports training and content stewardship.
Deliverables: activation and follow-up records, patient feedback, barrier outcomes and staff-time logs.
Decision: review the first operational cohort before increasing enrollment. Proceed only when response coverage, workload and patient access remain workable.
04 · MONTHS 9–11
Finish each participant’s 90-day observation window, document unresolved needs and connect ongoing care to an identified receiving service.
Deliverables: completed or explicitly unknown follow-up status, accepted handoffs and revised training materials.
Decision: the receiving service acknowledges the handoff; unresolved concerns remain visible. Continuing support beyond the paid episode needs funding and ownership.
05 · MONTH 12 + AGREED CLAIMS RUNOUT
The evaluator reports feasibility, patient experience, access, staff workload and complete delivery cost. Financial analysis follows once the agreed claims data are sufficiently mature.
Deliverables: operational report, hospital and payer analyses, limitations and a renewal recommendation.
Decision: renew, revise or stop against criteria agreed before enrollment. The evaluation scope and quote must cover the planned claims-runout work; extensions require a revised scope.
$135,000 scheduled work + $15,000 planning reserve = $150,000 total.
The reserve is not assigned to a phase. Its use needs an approved purpose and revised allocation. The project does not start a new 24/7 clinical service within this budget.
| Cost line | 1 · Scope | 2 · Prepare | 3 · Deliver | 4 · Handoff | 5 · Evaluate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content & training | 5,000 | 10,000 | 7,500 | 2,500 | 0 | 25,000 |
| Platform | 3,000 | 18,000 | 7,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Clinical & outreach | 2,000 | 3,000 | 22,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| Devices & connectivity | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 |
| Evaluation | 3,000 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| Implementation review | 7,000 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 |
| Language & access | 0 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 0 | 0 | 7,000 |
| Scheduled subtotal | 20,000 | 45,000 | 45,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 135,000 |
The separate $15,000 reserve brings the total to $150,000. Phase amounts are a proposed timing allocation, not vendor quotes or automatic payment authorizations.
Before going home: understand the plan, verify the contact route and practice using any prescribed device. Early recovery: complete clinician-timed assessments and get help with medicines, symptoms or practical barriers. Continuing recovery: review due care, understanding, access and suitable heart-health habits. By the episode’s end: carry the Heart Story and unresolved needs into an accepted continuing-care handoff.
These are experience stages, not a substitute for individual clinical deadlines. Warning signs require the hospital-approved immediate-care route at any stage. The service is proposed for 90 days after discharge; the project lasts 12 months.
Explore the patient experience →YOUR CONTRIBUTION HAS A DEFINED SCOPE
200 hours × $125 per hour, within the HEART RESERVE content and training line. This is 16.7% of the $150,000 envelope. It is a proposed project allocation, not guaranteed salary, profit or take-home pay.
| Proposed work | Effort and deliverable | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Program design · phase 1 | 40 hours: education and advocacy scope, patient experience and workflow specifications | $5,000 |
| Content & training · phase 2 | 80 hours: teaching materials, clinical-review coordination and team training | $10,000 |
| Content stewardship · phase 3 | 60 hours: approved revisions, training support and review of experience feedback | $7,500 |
| Handoff materials · phase 4 | 20 hours: final content improvements and continuing-care education | $2,500 |
| Total program work | 200 hours; included in the existing budget | $25,000 |
Document hours, deliverables and the compensation basis. The selected funder and agreement determine whether this belongs under personnel, consulting or a company contract, and how benefits, taxes and indirect costs are handled. Additional work needs a revised estimate.
A future HEART RESERVE license or royalty is a separate negotiated commercial term. If it applies during this pilot, include it once in the budget; it is not automatically added to the $25,000.
Edit the working estimate and episode-license scenario →GRANT, HOSPITAL & HEALTH-PLAN REVIEW
This section retains the earlier planning example. Use the current Phase 1 scope and the revised funding distinctions before preparing an introductory review. The older budget, schedule and packet below are superseded; no grant award or binding offer is represented.
Download the earlier packet (superseded) ↓
An earlier seven-page PDF retained for reference. Its $150,000 budget is superseded; do not send it as the current proposal.
HEART RESERVE proposes a $150,000, 12-month feasibility project with a hospital partner to configure, deliver and evaluate a 90-day Postpartum Advocate service for 50 adults after hypertensive pregnancy, alongside 50 current-care comparison participants. Funding supports approved patient education, staffed follow-through, accessible tools and evaluation. The project will test whether prescribed follow-up is completed and clinically reviewed, patients understand their next steps, and the service can operate at a sustainable cost. Readmissions and paid claims are exploratory outcomes; reductions are goals to test.
FOR A GRANT FUNDER
Support feasibility, patient access and measurable learning. Connect each aim to an activity, deliverable, cost and evaluation measure. Describe why grant support is needed and how the service could continue afterward.
Decision evidence: local need, eligible lead applicant, funder fit, team commitments, an approved research or evaluation plan and a justified budget.
FOR A HOSPITAL
Test whether a funded service helps patients complete care and gives staff clear ownership of unfinished work. Measure workload, avoidable hospital expense, necessary care and revenue effects.
Decision evidence: an accountable clinical team, verified workflow, local baseline, complete incremental cost and realistic terms for renewal.
Open the hospital model →FOR AN INSURER
Define what the episode adds to current maternity benefits. Compare full maternal paid claims and additional program costs over the same period, accounting for population differences and claims runout.
Decision evidence: eligible member volume, comparable baseline, data agreement, complete service price and agreed quality and renewal criteria.
Open the health-plan model →Reforecast when quotes arrive. Identify all required benefits, indirect costs, data charges, insurance and support costs. State whether each is included, contributed by a committed partner or additional. Do not assume the provisional $150,000 covers an unpriced requirement.
For federal awards subject to 2 CFR 200.433, contingency estimates have specific documentation and approval conditions, and some reserve payments are unallowable. Replace or remove the planning reserve where required using genuine, supported eligible costs; do not simply rename it. Federal contingency provisions · NIH budget-development guidance
This checklist records the contents of this package, not external approvals. A specific funding opportunity determines the final required documents, eligibility, format and review criteria.
| Review requirement | Prepared in this package | Needed before a complete submission or contract |
|---|---|---|
| Need & population | Sourced national burden and a focused first population. | Partner-specific eligible volume, local outcomes, access gaps and evidence of unmet need. |
| Aims & work plan | Phases, deliverables, proposed roles and decision points. | Named accountable partners, dates, accepted scope and funder-specific measurable aims. |
| Evaluation | 50 service / 50 current-care design; care, experience, workload and cost measures. | Qualified evaluator’s analysis plan, assignment method, missing-data approach, data agreements, necessary oversight/IRB determination and prospective acceptance thresholds. |
| Budget & justification | Eight cost lines, phase reconciliation and Lisa’s 200-hour scope. | Quotes, cost classification, compensation basis, applicable fringe/indirect costs and funder treatment of the reserve. |
| Team & commitments | HEART RESERVE, technology and clinical-service responsibilities. | Required bios/CVs, effort commitments and signed letters or agreements. Proposed collaboration is not a signed service contract. |
| Technology & clinical readiness | Prototype, current-release demonstration worksheet and failure-case rehearsal plan. | Verified license rights, privacy/security acceptance, clinical coverage, approved content and passed readiness tests. |
| Commercial sustainability | Episode-payment concept and separate hospital/payer financial models. | Full recurring price, payer coverage or contracting route, renewal terms, sales evidence and post-pilot funding. |
| Grant eligibility & administration | A funder-adaptable narrative and cost framework. | Chosen notice of funding opportunity, entity eligibility, registrations, deadline, required forms, page limits, certifications and authorized signature. |
| Submission & recipient access | A reviewable planning package. | Verify the intended recipient can open the material; complete the correct portal or delivery process and retain its receipt. This page is not a submission receipt. |
The separate HEART RESERVE NSF pitch draft concerns reliable reconstruction of pregnancy cardiovascular history: source-linked evidence, conflicting records, uncertainty and human review. That research needs its own technical aims, experiments, team, schedule and budget.
NSF’s published guidance calls for substantial research and development with unproven technical feasibility; routine platform configuration is not enough. The $150,000 service-pilot envelope should not be presented as the NSF research budget. Verify the current solicitation and application stage before adapting the separate pitch. NSF Project Pitch guidance
HOSPITAL FINANCE WORKSHEET
Use the same population and follow-up window. Model the expense that could actually be avoided, the change in revenue, and the hospital’s incremental delivery cost. Charges and total average admission costs are not automatically avoidable cash expense.
Net hospital value = modeled avoided readmissions × avoidable expense per readmission + other avoidable expense + net revenue change − recurring program cost − setup/evaluation. This scenario arithmetic is not an effectiveness estimate. Released bed capacity is a separate operational measure unless a finance team values its use.
Open the separate health-plan claims model →WHAT THE COMPARATOR REVIEW CHANGES
Review of current public product pages and demonstrations, October 22, 2026. Advertised capabilities are not independent validation. Signed-in clinical workflows, integrations and outcomes were not tested.
| Product | Publicly presented strengths | HEART RESERVE design response |
|---|---|---|
| Journey / Emagine | Maternal tracking, provider dashboards, alerts, messaging and reports. Its white-label offering and Aria virtual-doula experience provide a potential technology foundation. | Specify the additional curriculum, source-linked Heart Story, teach-back, barrier resolution, clinical ownership and continuing-care handoff. Verify actual platform capabilities and license rights in a vendor demonstration. No partnership is contracted. |
| Dr. Vonda Wright’s Unbreakable Lifestyle | A visible founder, assessment, structured training, Digital Dr. Vonda, educational courses, community and live Q&As. | Lead with Lisa and a clear heart-health purpose. Make Love Your Heart and Learn With Lisa easy to find. Show meaningful progress and the next action. Any future AI persona needs approved content, scope and testing; community and live sessions need actual staffing. |
Our proposed distinction is continuity: education and daily habits connect to original results, pregnancy history, the clinician’s plan and evidence of follow-through across life chapters. No superiority, validated HEART RESERVE score or equivalent clinical capability is claimed.
ONE PLACE TO CHECK THE WHOLE OFFERING
The earlier ideas are organized below. A working demonstration is not a deployed clinical service.
| Part of HEART RESERVE | Available to explore | Production or expansion work |
|---|---|---|
| My Heart Story | History, medicines, dated measurements, sources, results, visit questions and summaries. | Verified identity, consent, secure records and integrations; reliable review and correction of extracted data. |
| Love Your Heart / Learn With Lisa | 12-week program, check-ins, question-first teaching, guides and existing education. | Complete approved curriculum and media, accessibility review and evaluated coaching. No new AI voice or live Lisa session is activated. |
| Concierge advocate & postpartum recovery | Patient priorities, plan understanding, check-ins, help requests, all request outcomes, reopening and a care card. Vaginal and cesarean pathways. | Funded clinical responders, reliable delivery, referral capacity and accepted handoffs. A simulated assignment does not contact anyone. |
| Midlife & Hormones | History, changes, medicines and questions connected to heart health. | Approved individualized services and any prescribing stay with the care team. |
| Weight, Strength & GLP-1 | Prescribing-plan notes, nutrition/strength context, report values and progress review. | Validated connected devices and clinician services. No body scan, medication selection or automatic dose changes. |
| Hospital & insurer editions | Branding preview, operations rehearsal, budget, licensing proposal and value models. | Contracts, white-label/sublicensing rights, privacy/security acceptance, clinical coverage, local baseline and prospective evaluation. |
| Surgical Recovery Concierge | Defined second offer and shared workflow concept. | Select one procedure, eligibility, duration, clinical pathway, staffing and a separate price. |
| Future AI, ECG and community functions | Requirements and scope are discussed; they are not active clinical capabilities. | Approved knowledge and licensed assets, testing, appropriate clinical/regulatory review, moderation and an operating budget before launch. |