New Postpartum Module to Allow Providers to Incorporate New ACOG Guidance in a Scalable and Financially Feasible Manner
Babyscripts, the leading prenatal app and the first mobile clinical tool to allow OB/GYNs to remotely monitor their pregnant patients’ progress and health, will launch a Postpartum Module with innovative health systems on or around June 1, that allows providers to integrate the new American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) guidelines on postpartum care in both an innovative and scalable, tech-enabled manner. ACOG announced last week a new committee opinion emphasizing the need for a transformation in the delivery of postpartum care and directly identified telemedicine and apps as practical tools to increase compliance to the new postpartum protocol.
While this paradigm shift will benefit patients and their care, there is a corresponding concern about how providers can practically incorporate these recommendations in their day to day workflow without interruptions and in a cost effective manner. An example of how Babyscripts can help a practice adopt this guidance is to take the new recommendation of a postpartum follow up consultation within the first 3 weeks after the birth and enable that consultation to be delivered through a digital, asynchronous visit on the Babyscripts app. This kind of transformation could allow the practice to comply with the new guidelines, while simultaneously better managing the flow of patients into the office given the current constraints in reimbursement for postpartum care.
“The ACOG guidance suggests a new model for postpartum care that is an ongoing process instead of a single encounter, focused on the patient’s individual needs,” says Juan Pablo Segura, Co-founder of Babyscripts. “While exciting for the advancement of maternal care, there is the key logistical question of whether or not practices can fit these additional consultations in their already packed clinical schedules. With wait times already over 24 days for a routine OBGYN consultation in most metropolitan areas, patient flow is a key concern.” Segura adds, “Babyscripts is committed to taking our expertise in virtual care models into the postpartum space to connect moms with key resources like breastfeeding support and depression screening while also assisting practices to properly deliver the new ACOG guidelines for the postpartum journey in a financially sustainable and scalable fashion.”
Babyscripts is a virtual care platform for obstetrics that allows OBGYNs to deliver a new model of perinatal care. The platform is powered by a suite of mobile apps that drive better patient decision making, internet-connected devices for remote monitoring, and a host of population health tools to give providers access to patient data in real time. When using these tools, patients experience increased engagement and satisfaction, while OBGYNs are able to identify patient risk more quickly, improve clinic workflow, and make more money.
After launching in 2014, the company moved from managing only low-risk, private-pay patients to managing higher-risk patients, including women with hypertension and gestational diabetes, and patients on Medicaid. The app offers a whole end-to-end risk-stratified model that allows a provider to have a virtual experience with about 90% of his or her pregnant patient population. BabyScripts works with more than 15 health systems across the United States that manage more than 80,000 births in 13 different states.