Inova Health System, an integrated health system in Northern Virginia, has made an investment in a company called Babyscripts and will deploy its virtual care platform for managing obstetrics.
In addition to a $500,000 investment, the nonprofit Inova will deploy the Babyscripts’ solution first to their employee health plan through Innovation Health, and then to their entire system. Inova will use Babyscripts to engage women continually through their pregnancy and postpartum with digital tools.
Babyscripts has spent the last four years building what it describes as a clinically validated, virtual care platform to allow OBGYNs to deliver a new model of prenatal care. Using Internet-connected devices for remote monitoring, Babyscripts allows providers to manage up to 90 percent of pregnancies virtually, allowing doctors to detect risk more quickly and automate elements of care.
“Babyscripts offers the opportunity to further the impact of our wellness programs on the lives of expecting families in the region,” said Seema Wadhwa, assistant vice president for sustainability and wellness at Inova, in a statement. “We currently see over 11,000 people through our childbirth and parenting education, and we are pleased to expand our holistic care offerings for pregnant moms and their families with this additional tool.”
Although it started with a focus on prenatal care, Babyscripts is expanding into the postpartum space. With the recent acquisition of iBirth, one of the first provider-delivered, co-branded pregnancy apps in the marketplace, Babyscripts now manages pregnancy and postpartum. It is now managing more than 150,000 pregnancies across 20 states.
Babyscripts was one of 10 winners in Phase 1 of a Remote Pregnancy Monitoring Challenge being run by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The winning innovations are technology-based solutions that help providers remotely monitor the health of pregnant women, and empower women to make informed decisions about their own care.
Each Phase 1 winner was awarded a share of $100,000 and will move on to Phase 2 to develop their prototype and begin small-scale testing through August 2019. Mentors will be available to provide feedback on testing methodologies and to provide more information about the evidence base.
In Phase 3, winners of Phase 2 will test their proposed interventions on a larger scale. Applicants are encouraged to work closely with a community or city to facilitate scaling the intervention in order to reach more families.
