Transformative Cardiovascular Risk Management Solutions Extend Beyond Traditional Sectors to Include Federal and State Correctional Facilities, Broker and Benefits Organizations, and Risk Bearing Providers.

Cardio Diagnostics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDIO), an AI-driven precision cardiovascular medicine company, announced today the nationwide rollout and a significant expansion of its groundbreaking HeartRisk™ platform. HeartRisk combines insights from HIPAA-compliant anonymized and aggregated clinical cardiovascular data obtained through Cardio Diagnostics’ Epi+Gen CHD and PrecisionCHD clinical tests, with industry and geographic data to enable real-time population-level cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk insights.

This expansion extends the reach of its proprietary data intelligence platform to correctional facilities, risk-bearing providers engaged in value-based contracts, and broker and benefits consultants. The move marks a strategic leap in addressing the financial and security challenges, such as those associated with transporting inmates in correctional facilities, of scaling access to cardiovascular testing across diverse sectors.

"By expanding our HeartRisk™ platform, we're not just innovating within traditional healthcare sectors but breaking new ground in diverse markets. From correctional facilities to value-based care providers and workplace wellness programs to brokerage and benefits consultants, our precision cardiovascular solutions provide actionable insights. By coupling data intelligence to evidence-based and scalable clinical tests, we're enabling these healthcare stakeholders and their organizations to make data-driven decisions to address rising healthcare costs and implement more effective chronic disease management. We're not just advancing precision medicine; we're ensuring those insights can be leveraged at the population level for multiple sectors," shared Meesha Dogan, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Cardio Diagnostics.

Risk-Bearing Providers and Value-Based Care

Risk-bearing providers, such as Family Medicine Specialists that receive monthly HeartRisk population data, can better manage their shared-risk and value-based contracts by identifying and stratifying at-risk populations, and understanding the drivers of heart disease, ensuring quality measures and ratings are met. This leads to benefiting from shared risk contracts while better-managing patient health.

Family Medicine Specialists' implementation of Cardio Diagnostics' tests in their patient population with CHD risk factors demonstrates the first time a risk-bearing provider is leveraging precision epigenetics-based heart disease technologies with a population health intelligence tool to optimize risk-sharing contracts. HeartRisk's ability to aggregate population-level heart attack risk, the presence of heart disease detection, and intervention monitoring and management aligns with the financial incentives of shared-risk contracts.

Empowering Workplace Wellness & Financial Health

The expanded offering equips employers with unparalleled insights into workforce health trends related not just to cardiovascular risks but also encapsulating broader wellness indicators crucial for business resilience and productivity. By integrating predictive analytics around CVD within comprehensive workplace wellness initiatives, employers can reduce healthcare costs significantly while fostering an invigorated workplace culture centered on health mindfulness.

Enabling Precision-Driven Decision-Making for Employer Clients

Brokerage and benefits entities play a pivotal role in aligning coverage plans that articulate both value and efficacy against chronic conditions like CVD, which are substantial cost centers for their clientele. The enhanced functionalities within the HeartRisk™ platform allow these entities to offer meticulous plan designs optimized by granular cumulative data insights, thus ensuring impactful investments in healthcare portfolios. This includes being able to guide employer clients on stop-loss insurance decisions, benefits allocations, and premium and escrow limits using more real-time aggregated employer CVD risk intelligence data based on clinical tests for a prospective analysis rather than a retrospective analysis.

Tackling Healthcare Challenges Behind Bars: A Constitutional Requirement

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among incarcerated individuals. The incarcerated population exhibits higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking and hypertension, compared to the general population. Correctional facilities have a constitutional obligation to care for the health of incarcerated individuals. This includes the provision of medical and mental health care, which is complicated by the high prevalence of chronic diseases, mental health issues, and substance use disorders among the incarcerated population.

The complexity of providing care in correctional facilities is exacerbated by resource constraints and the difficulty of providing specialized care for heart disease without transportation. The costs and security risks associated with transporting inmates into healthcare settings and facilities are staggering. Annually, more than $90 million is spent on transporting inmates to U.S Hospitals annually. HeartRisk, driven by the adoption of Epi+Gen CHD and PrecisionCHD via telehealth, is a highly scalable approach for correctional facilities to obtain heart attack and heart disease insights.

Impact on Healthcare Costs and Chronic Disease Management

The expansion of the HeartRisk™ platform is aligned with the broader trend in healthcare towards prevention and value-based care. Preventive measures are not only lifesaving but also economically beneficial, with an estimated return of $6.30 in savings for every $1 invested. Active strategies for risk factor reduction, prevention, and treatment of CVD, powered by precision population analytics, are key to addressing these growing cardiovascular cost challenges.

About Cardio Diagnostics

Cardio Diagnostics is an artificial intelligence-powered precision cardiovascular medicine company that makes cardiovascular disease prevention, detection, and management 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 improving prevention, detection, and 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, and Forms 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2023, and September 30, 2023, 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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