Babyscripts and Penn Medicine Partnership Forming Postpartum Hypertension Tool

Babyscripts, a tech-startup focusing on prenatal and postpartum care, has recently teamed up with Penn medicine to develop remote monitoring systems for postpartum hypertension. This partnership leverages Babyscripts’ remote monitoring technology with Penn Medicine’s Heart Safe Motherhood program (HSM), a text-based service for pregnancy-related hypertension, to enhance postpartum care at lowered costs.

The two hope to create a product tat can remotely monitor hypertensive patients, allowing physicians to identify those who need more attention and enabling them to intervene more promptly. The finished product will ideally help clinicians find these signs of rising blood pressure earlier, therefore decreasing readmission rates and lengths of hospital stays.

Penn Medicine is in strong position to support the expansion of Babscripts’ services into postpartum hypertension with HSM. This program approaches pregnancy-related hypertension using health technology to bolster the patients experience, safety, and cost and quality of care in transitioning from hospital to home.

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Last year, a randomized controlled trial comparing traditional office follow-ups with HSM was conducted to test the remote text-based program in controlling monitoring postpartum blood pressure after hospital discharge. This research was conducted by Adi Hirshberg, MD and assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn Medicine, and Sindhu Srinivas, MD and director of Obstetrical Services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

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The researchers found that HSM was correlated with an increase in blood pressure data recorded within 10 days of hospital discharge (44 vs. 92%), significant reduction in 7-day readmission rates for postpartum hypertension (4 vs. 7%), and a significant increase in attendance of postpartum visits (58 vs 69%).

Babyscripts will be focusing on taking these care protocols tested through Penn’s HSM and use them in Babyscripts platform for postpartum monitoring of hypertension.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Penn Medicine to improve the management of patients after they deliver,” says Juan Pablo Segura, Babyscripts President and co-founder. “This is another example of what Babyscripts uniquely brings to the table. For us, it’s not just technology tools. It’s protocols and best practices that have proven success. Our goal is completely redefining maternal care, this is another huge step towards eliminating complications.”

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The Washington D.C.-based Babyscripts offers consumers remote monitoring technology to support high-risk pregnancies. Patients use the company’s mobile app to enter data into one of the Babyscripts modules, from which physicians can receive real-time data regarding their health. Earlier this year the company raised $6 million in a financing round led by Philips, with NueCura Partners and StartUp Health participating as well.

“We are very proud of the work we have done with HSM and the results we have been able to achieve at two of our Penn Medicine hospitals. We are eager to partner with Babyscripts to build on our experience to improve health outcomes for mothers,” said Srinivas. “Postpartum hypertension is a critical area of concern in maternal health, and we are excited to see Babyscripts use our research and their technology to scale a solution.”

.@Babyscripts just announced its newest partnership with @PennMedicine to improve postpartum health for new mothers https://t.co/qeb4hlwMXR

— StartUp Health (@startuphealth) February 28, 2019

Sources: PR Web, MedCity News, MobiHealth News