Beyond the Award: How Rhythm Express Is Redefining Cardiac Monitoring

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – June 23, 2026 – When Marina and Brian Brockway, the founders of Rhythm Express, were named recipients of the prestigious EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® Heartland 2026 Award, it was more than just a recognition of business success. It was a validation of a decade-long mission to fundamentally reshape remote cardiac care. While the award, with its 40-year legacy as a global benchmark for entrepreneurial excellence, places the Brockways in an elite class, the true story lies in the strategic innovation and patient-focused execution that earned them the honor.

This award isn't a finish line; it’s a milestone in a larger campaign to de-risk patient health through smarter, more accessible technology. As the Minneapolis-based company moves to the national stage of the competition this November, its journey offers a compelling case study in building a lasting competitive advantage at the intersection of technology and healthcare.

The Entrepreneurial Blueprint

At the heart of Rhythm Express is an entrepreneurial story rooted in personal experience and seasoned business acumen. Marina Brockway, the company's founder and Chief Technology Officer, was inspired to act after witnessing her mother struggle with cumbersome, inaccurate cardiac monitors. This firsthand frustration became the catalyst for her vision: to develop patient-friendly wearable devices that delivered superior diagnostic data.

With a unique combination of degrees in applied mathematics, physiology, and an MBA, along with deep experience in AI and signal processing from her time at Guidant, Marina possessed the precise toolkit to tackle the problem. Her work has resulted in approximately 80 issued patents, a testament to her focus on innovation. "What makes this recognition especially meaningful is that it reflects the collective efforts of our employees, customers, and partners," Marina Brockway stated, emphasizing the collaborative spirit behind their success. "We have been fortunate to work alongside incredibly talented people who share our passion for advancing healthcare and improving patients' lives."

Complementing this technical vision is the strategic leadership of Brian Brockway, President and CEO. An accomplished entrepreneur, Brian previously founded and grew Data Sciences International (DSI) into a highly profitable leader in preclinical testing, earning a place on the Inc. 500 list for three consecutive years. His experience in scaling a technology-driven business provided the commercial framework to transform Marina’s innovations into a market force. "From the beginning, our mission has been to combine innovation, technology, and compassionate service to solve real-world healthcare challenges," Brian Brockway added. This dual-engine leadership, merging deep technical expertise with proven growth strategy, has been the firm's defining advantage.

Innovation at the Core

The remote patient monitoring (RPM) market is a fiercely competitive and rapidly expanding space, with some projections estimating its value will exceed $110 billion by 2033. In this crowded field, Rhythm Express has carved out a significant niche by focusing on superior signal quality and operational simplicity. The company, a subsidiary of VivaQuant, has already supported the care of over 600,000 patients across more than 500 clinics.

Its flagship device, the RX-1 mini, is a small, one-piece, cellular-enabled wearable that can function as a Holter monitor, event recorder, or mobile cardiac telemetry device. Crucially, it employs proprietary noise-canceling algorithms to produce high-clarity ECGs, a direct solution to the problem that first motivated Marina Brockway. This technical superiority, combined with a water-resistant design that allows for continuous wear, drives high patient compliance—a critical factor for diagnostic accuracy.

For physicians, the company has engineered the Rhythm Access™ Portal, a platform designed for seamless workflow integration. One physician noted that the portal's user-friendly interface and customizable notifications were a "huge help in diagnosing cardiac arrhythmias," allowing for instant access to reports when a patient calls with a symptom. By providing actionable data often within 20 minutes of an event, Rhythm Express is shrinking the timeline from symptom to diagnosis.

A New Rhythm in Diagnostics

Rhythm Express is not resting on its current success. The company’s forward-looking strategy is exemplified by the recent FDA clearance of its RX-1 SleepTM diagnostic—a groundbreaking product that provides a concurrent assessment of sleep apnea severity and atrial fibrillation (AFib) burden from a single at-home test.

This is a significant clinical breakthrough. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common and often undiagnosed comorbidity in AFib patients, present in up to 85% of cases. The conditions are mechanistically linked, and untreated OSA can worsen AFib outcomes. By integrating these two critical diagnostics into one simple test, Rhythm Express is poised to streamline care, accelerate diagnosis, and enable more comprehensive treatment plans. This innovation positions the company at the forefront of a major trend toward integrated, multi-modal diagnostics, creating a powerful new value proposition for cardiologists and sleep specialists alike.

"Marina and Brian exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit that drives meaningful change," said Marketing Director John Collins. "Their vision, determination, and unwavering commitment to customers have built an organization which is improving healthcare while creating opportunities for employees, partners, and the communities they serve." As they celebrate this latest milestone, the Brockways remain focused on that future, continuing to invest in technologies that promise to deliver even better outcomes for patients and providers.