Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about Caremiga and HeartMyCare below.
General Information & App Overview
What is HeartMyCare?
HeartMyCare is the first app designed exclusively to help nurses get feedback directly from patients. Think of it as a "Rate My Professors" or "Yelp" for nursing care, built by a nurse to empower nurses.
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What is the relationship between Caremiga and HeartMyCare?
Caremiga is a healthcare tech company, and HeartMyCare is its flagship product. Caremiga developed HeartMyCare to empower nurses and enhance their connection with patients.
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How is HeartMyCare free? How does Caremiga make money?
HeartMyCare is completely free—no ads, no fees, and no collection of financial information from users. Our mission is to empower nurses and strengthen the bond between nurses and patients, and charging any fees would conflict with that purpose. At Caremiga, we’re committed to not adding financial strain to nurses and patients, who already bear significant burdens.
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HeartMyCare employs a grassroots approach, inspired by social media models, where the growing user community itself creates value. As our community expands, potential revenue opportunities may arise through strategic partnerships, such as collaborations with nurse recruiters or licensing arrangements with healthcare facilities. These initiatives will support the app’s growth while ensuring it remains accessible and free for individual nurses.
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How is HeartMyCare different from the Daisy Foundation?
The DAISY Foundation, founded by a patient's family, recognizes nurses through various prestigious awards that patients, staff, or management can nominate them for. HeartMyCare, however, is a platform designed by a nurse, offering a unique way for patients to provide feedback directly at the point of service. While the DAISY Awards celebrate nurses with public recognition, HeartMyCare focuses on the internal rewards of ongoing, real-time feedback, helping nurses feel valued and uplifted in their everyday work. Rather than waiting for formal recognition, HeartMyCare empowers every patient to immediately acknowledge and validate their nurse’s care, creating a continuous loop of appreciation. Both approaches complement one another, offering different but equally important forms of support for the nursing profession.
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How is Caremiga and the HeartMyCare platform different from Press Ganey and similar healthcare data insight services?
Caremiga is a nurse-owned company dedicated to empowering nurses, with no obligations to a board of directors, shareholders, or venture capitalists. Unlike Press Ganey, which delivers a comprehensive range of patient experience data and analytics for healthcare organizations through costly contracts, HeartMyCare operates independently. While HeartMyCare does not provide the extensive services that larger companies like Press Ganey offer, it stands out for its simplicity, real-time feedback, and direct nurse-driven approach. This platform is completely free for both nurses and patients, requiring no agreements with hospitals or health systems. Furthermore, any feedback collected through HeartMyCare belongs to the nurse, so if they change jobs, their data goes with them.
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In contrast, platforms like Press Ganey are designed to deliver hospital-centric data insights and typically require significant financial investments from healthcare organizations. The feedback from these platforms is often delayed, taking weeks or months to reach individual nurses, if at all. Moreover, the data is owned and managed by the healthcare organization, limiting nurses’ direct access and control.
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In summary, HeartMyCare empowers nurses with a streamlined, independent feedback system that’s entirely user-driven and free from institutional constraints. It puts nurses in control of their professional feedback and growth, with no strings attached.
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Usage & Features
How does a nurse get rated on HeartMyCare?
Ratings on HeartMyCare are primarily initiated by nurses but patients familiar with the app can also request to rate their nurse. Here’s how the process works:​
Nurses: At any point during your shift, you can request ratings from patients, although asking at the start or end of your shift may be ideal. Here are three methods you can use:
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Show Your Profile: Direct the patient’s attention to your profile in the app:
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​Share Your Handle: Let patients know your nurse handle, which is the easiest way for them to search for you in the app.
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Display Your QR Code: Encourage patients to scan your QR code using the app to submit a rating.
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Use the Share Feature: You can share your profile directly, but be mindful that this may reveal personal information like your phone number or email.
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Take a Photo: Ask the patient to take a picture of your profile for future reference if they wish to rate you later.
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Use a Nurse Connection Card: This card contains your nurse handle and instructions for patients to rate you. You can create a formal card, use templates from Caremiga.com/resources or even jot your handle down on a sticky note! Hand the card to patients so they know how to find you, even if they haven’t downloaded the app yet.
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Patients: While HeartMyCare is designed with a nurse-driven rating process, patients who use the app can also ask to rate a nurse. If you're familiar with HeartMyCare and want to give a rating, you might say:
"I use the HeartMyCare app to rate the care I receive. I’d love to give you a rating, but I’d need your nurse handle from the app. Do you have HeartMyCare, or could you create a profile so I can share feedback with you?"
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Although there isn't a specific system for patients to request ratings, this approach encourages communication and lets your nurse know you'd like to acknowledge their care through HeartMyCare.
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Can reviews be done on the internet?
No, HeartMyCare is currently available only as an app for iPhones and Android devices. However, detailed instructions on how to download and use the app, along with additional helpful information, are provided on Caremiga.com/heartmycare.
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Why hearts and not stars for the ratings?
We chose a heart-based system to reflect the deep emotional and physical connection between nurses and their patients. Hearts symbolize both the physical care nurses provide and the emotional bond they form. Unlike stars, which feel detached, hearts express love, trust, and appreciation—core values of nursing care.
What is my “heart rate”?
Your “heart rate” is the average of all your individual ratings, which are expressed in hearts (up to five). This playful term is meant to generate excitement and awareness about your performance on the app.
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How often can a nurse be rated?
Nurses can be rated an unlimited number of times, but only once per week by the same patient.
Is HeartMyCare only for nurses?
At this stage, yes. However, we plan to expand the app to include other healthcare professionals like Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Physical Therapists, and more.
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What is a Nurse Connection Card?
A Nurse Connection Card is a personalized tool that nurses can give to patients to request a rating. It includes the nurse's name, handle, and instructions for the patient to rate the nurse on HeartMyCare. The card can be as simple or creative as the nurse prefers, with the most important detail being the nurse’s unique handle for easy identification in the app. Templates are available at Caremiga.com/resources.
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How does the QR code in HeartMyCare work?
The QR code in HeartMyCare is unique to each nurse and functions as a scannable version of your nurse handle. It’s designed to make it easy for patients to find you in the app. Patients can scan your QR code directly from the HeartMyCare app by selecting the scan icon on their home screen. This QR code is only usable within HeartMyCare and does not link to the App Store or Google Play. If you or patients encounter any issues, it may be because the QR code can only be recognized by the HeartMyCare app, not by external scanners.
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Is HeartMyCare available in other languages?
Currently, HeartMyCare is available in English only. As we grow, we plan to offer it in additional languages to make it more accessible. Spanish is likely to be our first addition, considering the large Spanish-speaking population in the U.S.
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Does my hospital or healthcare organization need to use HeartMyCare for me to benefit from it?
No, HeartMyCare is designed to be nurse-driven. Any nurse or patient can use it as long as there is mobile service. It doesn’t require hospital participation so you won’t have to navigate the obstacles of hospital bureaucracy to collect and utilize feedback through HeartMyCare, giving you the freedom to use it in any setting.
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Can HeartMyCare impact HCAHPS scores?
HeartMyCare can potentially influence HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) scores, but only indirectly. While the app does not integrate directly with HCAHPS metrics established by CMS, it empowers patients to share specific, immediate feedback about their nursing care. This can strengthen the patient-nurse connection and contribute to a more positive patient experience overall. However, the impact is highly user-driven, meaning that the app’s effectiveness in influencing scores depends on how extensively it is adopted across your healthcare team or organization. While a single nurse using HeartMyCare may not substantially affect scores, widespread use could have a more pronounced impact. With minimal disruption to workflow, HeartMyCare is a valuable tool that complements Magnet-designated hospitals’ focus on patient satisfaction and quality of care. We recommend it for every nurse engaged in direct patient care.
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Privacy & Security
Is HeartMyCare safe to use?
Yes, HeartMyCare is HIPAA-compliant, ensuring that all personal information is used solely for validation purposes and never shared externally without user consent. Both nurses and patients maintain control over their public profiles, though they differ slightly in terms of accessibility:
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Nurses: Their public profile includes details they choose to share, such as their name, handle, and other identifiers. This public profile is searchable by patients on the app.
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Patients: Similarly, patients can share a custom username and profile picture, but their public profile is only visible to the nurses they rate. Patients are not searchable by anyone else in the app. The public information they choose to share is used solely to help nurses identify them after a rating is submitted.
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All sensitive information required for HIPAA compliance is kept strictly internal and used only for validation. Users are in complete control of what appears in their public profiles, ensuring that no private information is shared without explicit consent.
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How is my personal information used?
Your personal information is used solely to validate your account and ensure the security of your profile. It will never be shared or sold to third parties without your consent. You may receive occasional updates about the app, but we won’t send marketing or spam messages.
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Nurse Users: In future versions, we may explore partnerships with recruiters or other organizations. These partnerships could give nurses the option to share their public profiles (such as their ratings) with potential employers or recruiters. However, there are no such plans currently in place.
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Patient Users: Your data will always be kept internally and will never be shared or made accessible to third parties. Your public profile (which you control) is only visible to the nurse(s) you review, ensuring complete privacy in the app.
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Who can see my ratings?
As a nurse, your detailed ratings and reviews from patients—including individual feedback and comments—are private and visible only to you on your Stats screen (your personal dashboard). This includes the specific ratings left by each patient and any accompanying reviews. You can use this private feedback for self-reflection or professional growth. While your overall "heart rate" (the average of your ratings) can be seen by any patient you choose to share your profile with, the individual ratings and reviews remain confidential unless you choose to share them, such as during performance reviews or with potential employers.
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Why are ratings private? What’s the benefit?
The primary purpose of the app is self-validation. You can use the feedback as personal reinforcement and to inform your practice. While the ratings are private, sharing them with your employer could be beneficial for performance reviews or job advancement.
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What if I receive negative ratings?
HeartMyCare is designed to be strengths-based and encourage positive feedback. Ratings are private, so any negative feedback is only visible to you. Use it constructively to reflect on your practice. Keep in mind that the patient’s circumstances and the context of care can influence their feedback.
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Can patients send messages to nurses through the app?
Patients can leave comments as part of their rating review. Nurses can respond to a review by either “loving” it (similar to liking a post on social media) or sending a brief message such as “thank you.” The app intentionally limits interactions between nurses and patients to these simple exchanges. HeartMyCare is designed to provide feedback on nursing care, not to serve as a platform for ongoing communication or requests regarding patient care.
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Objections
How much does it cost?
HeartMyCare is completely free for both nurses and patients. The app is designed to stay free, with future costs expected to be covered by other revenue streams.
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Should I get permission from my employer to use HeartMyCare?
We encourage nurses to use their own judgment. Since this app is a novel concept, each workplace may respond differently. Think of HeartMyCare as another tool in your professional development, much like continuing education or wellness practices.
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Are HeartMyCare and the DAISY Foundation in competition?
Not at all! The DAISY Foundation, founded by a patient’s family, recognizes nurses through formal awards and nominations by patients, peers, and managers. HeartMyCare, on the other hand, was created by a nurse to offer real-time feedback directly from patients at the point of care. We don’t offer awards, but we provide an immediate, accessible way for patients to acknowledge their nurse’s efforts. Both platforms are focused on celebrating nurses, and we see HeartMyCare as complementary to DAISY’s mission—giving nurses the validation they deserve while also helping them improve and grow. We fully support any effort that uplifts the nursing profession.
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