Transforming Heart Disease Prevention for Self-Insured Employers in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas: A Strategic Alliance between Connect Clinic and Cardio Diagnostics

Cardio Diagnostics Holdings, Inc (Nasdaq: CDIO), a precision cardiovascular medicine company, today announced a partnership with Connect Clinic to help MidWest/South Central self-insured employers build access to heart disease initiatives. These states lack ready access to precision heart disease technologies needed to tackle cardiovascular disease at scale while also having a very high percentage of employees who receive their health plan through self-insured employers.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular disease conditions cost the American healthcare system $216 billion per year and result in $147 billion in lost productivity annually​. According to the American Heart Association, between 2018 and 2019, the indirect costs of total cardiovascular diseases (CVD), which include lost productivity/mortality, amounted to $155.9 billion​.

In partnership with Connect Clinic, an Oklahoma-based mobile health clinic, Cardio Diagnostics will make available regular on-site heart attack prevention fairs for self-insured employers throughout Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas to make the company's Epi+Gen CHD, PrecisionCHD™, and Actionable Clinical Intelligence™ solutions even more accessible. This initiative represents a significant step forward in transforming heart disease prevention and care in the workplace, helping to foster healthier communities and more resilient businesses in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.

The midwest and south-central regions are not exempt from the heart disease burden. Heart disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in these regions in the United States. Additionally, because these states have many self-insured employers, they bear a significant portion of the associated healthcare costs, including billions in lost productivity, making the need for proactive heart disease prevention and management more critical than ever.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the percentage of private sector employees that receive their health insurance from self-insured employers in these four states is significant, including more than 63% of employees in Arkansas, more than 59% of employees in Oklahoma, more than 65% of employees in Missouri, and more than 60% of employees in Kansas compared to the national average of 57 percent.

The innovative collaboration between Connect Clinic and Cardio Diagnostics aims to address this pressing issue by bringing state-of-the-art preventive heart disease testing directly to the workplace. By leveraging Cardio Diagnostics' advanced precision heart disease technologies and Connect Clinic's mobile health services, self-insured employers can provide their employees with high-quality cardiovascular care, potentially reducing the burden of heart disease on the workforce and the associated financial strain on their companies.

As the managing partner at Connect Clinic, Dan Frye, shared, “I am thrilled to announce our plans for expanding what we offer to self-insured employers. We believe that by broadening our services, we can play a transformative role in the healthcare industry. This expansion is not just about offering more options but about providing holistic, integrated solutions that meet the complex needs of today's workforce.” Meesha Dogan, Ph.D., CEO of Cardio Diagnostics, expressed her enthusiasm for the partnership's potential impact: "This alliance with Connect Clinic expands our footprint and underlines our commitment to making cutting-edge healthcare options as accessible as possible. Heart disease continues to be a challenge in the workplace, and we are confident that this partnership will elevate the standard of health and wellness initiatives offered by employers who are committed to keeping their employees healthy."

The partnership was enabled by the Dombrow Consulting Group, a firm based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known for its expertise in developing self-insured employer channels. "The alliance between Connect Clinic and Cardio Diagnostics is a great step forward in the healthcare sector, particularly for self-insured employers in Oklahoma. We're delighted to facilitate this partnership," said Tim Dombrow, the firm's founder.

By aligning their distinct health services, Connect Clinic and Cardio Diagnostics aim to foster a healthier workforce and create a more sustainable healthcare ecosystem. This partnership ensures that self-insured companies have unparalleled access to more advanced preventive and diagnostic heart disease solutions at their workplace and on demand.

About Connect Clinic:

Connect Clinic is a pioneering mobile wellness clinic based in Oklahoma that is reshaping the conventional healthcare model. The company partners with self-insured employers, offering onsite biometric testing, annual wellness visits, and specialty tests.

About Cardio Diagnostics

Cardio Diagnostics is an artificial intelligence-powered precision cardiovascular medicine company that makes cardiovascular disease prevention and early detection more accessible, personalized, and precise. The Company was formed to further develop and commercialize clinical tests by leveraging a proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Integrated Genetic-Epigenetic Engine (“Core Technology”) for cardiovascular disease to become one of the leading medical technology companies for enabling improved prevention, early detection, and assists in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. For more information, please visit www.cardiodiagnosticsinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information included in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words or phrases “will”, “will likely result,” “expected to,” “will continue,” “anticipated,” “estimate,” “projected,” “intend,” “goal,” or similar expressions are intended to identify “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks, known and unknown, and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy, changes in laws or regulations, economic conditions, dependence on management, dilution to stockholders, lack of capital, the effects of rapid growth upon the Company and the ability of management to effectively respond to the growth and demand for products and services of the Company, newly developing technologies, the Company’s ability to compete, regulatory matters, protection of technology, the effects of competition and the ability of the Company to obtain future financing. An extensive list of factors that can affect future results are discussed in the Current Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2022 under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item IA thereof, and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors could materially adversely affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause the Company’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed within this press release.

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