He Was a Cardiologist at a Top Hospital. Then He Quit to Fix the System.
Slice of Healthcare Team
08/12/2025
Dr. Jeffrey Wessler left a prestigious hospital job to build something most doctors only talk about: a better way to deliver heart care.
Rethinking Heart Health, From the Ground Up
Heartbeat Health is a virtual-first cardiovascular care company that connects patients to cardiologists through a streamlined digital platform. The goal? Make preventive and specialty heart care more accessible, faster, and easier to navigate, especially for patients who might otherwise fall through the cracks.
No waiting six months to see a cardiologist. No faxing paperwork back and forth. No hoping your doctor actually gets your test results.
From White Coat to Startup Founder
Before founding Heartbeat Health, Dr. Jeffrey Wessler was a practicing cardiologist at Columbia University. From the outside, it looked like he had it made: top-tier institution, busy clinic, respected peers.
But inside the hospital, he kept running into the same problem.
Patients who needed preventive heart care weren’t getting it. Referrals were delayed, follow-ups missed, early warning signs ignored. And the patients who finally made it in often showed up far sicker than they should’ve been.
“I realized that the very system I was working in wasn’t built to help people until it was too late,” Wessler said.
So he did something rare in medicine: he stepped out of the system to try and fix it.
The Status Quo? It Was Failing People.
Traditional cardiology is still largely built around in-person visits, fragmented data, and outdated workflows. For patients, especially those outside major urban centers or without flexible schedules, it’s a logistical nightmare. For doctors, it’s a daily exercise in inefficiency.
Heartbeat Health flips that model. Its platform integrates risk screening, diagnostic testing, and virtual cardiology consults, typically within days, not months. And because it’s designed around value-based care, the incentives are aligned to keep patients healthier, not just treat them when they’re sick.
A Real-World Impact
One of Heartbeat’s earliest wins came from a large employer who partnered with the company to screen their workforce for cardiovascular risk. Within weeks, dozens of employees at risk for heart disease were identified and connected with a cardiologist, many of them for the first time in their lives.
The result: not only improved patient outcomes, but also reduced downstream healthcare costs.
Who It Helps
Heartbeat is built for people who’ve historically been underserved by the current system: those in rural areas, those with limited access to specialists, and those who just don’t have time for the traditional clinic shuffle.
It also helps primary care doctors who often spot the first signs of heart trouble but don’t have a reliable way to get patients seen by a cardiologist quickly.
Expert Insights
Share Your Expert Insights
Have relevant experience or professional perspective? Add your thoughtful insights to this article.
