Wildflower Health, a San Francisco-based mhealth startup has ambitious aspirations that begin in the payer and providers’ pockets and follow moms across the care continuum: to “own Mom as the healthcare consumer,” CEO Leah Sparks said.
When Sparks launched Wildflower with cofounder Kathy Bellevin in June 2012, she was about six months pregnant with her son, Sparks said. Since then, this healthcare startup has been christened with the holy water of RockHealth. It closed a Series A round with eXXclaim, Cambia Health and KMG Health, making it venture-backed.
The healthcare startup’s first product, Due Date Plus, is a pregnancy app, but unlike most on the market, it connects moms to the healthcare system, rather than simply pushing information and offering space for pregnant women to chart their own data. She can navigate her health plan and see which providers are covered, connect to hotlines and ask questions.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Meanwhile, her health plan gathers data it wouldn’t have otherwise. Typically, health care providers and payers don’t know about a pregnancy until that first visit–10-12 weeks after an at-home test. Before this first visit, “they’re largely invisible” to the healthcare system, Sparks said. From a technology perspective, however, it’s a great time to engage with moms, she said.
Of the more than 50,000 pregnant women who have used the app since its 2013 launch, the company website says more than half connect in the first seven weeks of pregnancy.
When a woman is pregnant, it’s one of the few times in adulthood her health habits actually change, Sparks said. Connecting with her, helping her make healthy decisions and interact with her health plan at this juncture, can make “an imprint for a lifetime,” she said. The app weaves together ultrasound video, daily tips and consumer engagement, all while helping women accomplish healthcare system action items.
As smartphone adoption reaches its “critical inflection point” and healthcare plans “wake up” to consumerism because of the ACA, Sparks said now is the time for building a mom-filled patient engagement platform.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
This is what makes it attractive to health plans to pay out. The company relies on payers paying up, offering the app for free to users.
“I’m very excited about the business model in which the payers are taking the lead there,” eXXclaim co-founder Karen Drexler said. “Insurance companies have recognized that if women aren’t properly managed, the right tests aren’t done. . . there are long-term results for the baby.”
One of the company’s current clients is Wyoming’s Medicaid program. Wyoming Medicaid pays for between about 3,000 and 3,500 of the 7,000 pregnancies annually in the state, Dr. James Bush, Wyoming Medicaid medical director with the Wyoming Department of Health, said.
So many Medicaid young female patients use smartphones Wyhealth cold-called Wildflower, Sparks said.
Dr. Bush said the part he thinks works best is the interactivity, built specifically for the state, which is “not blanket.”
“(The app) allows us to quantify in a way that we’ve never been able to do, and engage the patient,” he said. He said since the app dropped in February, about 100 users have signed up.
In 2014, the startup will focus on commercializing and signing on more clients, as well as moving on to its second project. While Sparks wouldn’t get into specifics, she did say the company will move beyond pregnancy into pediatrics and health. She said this product may launch next year.
Follow MedCity News on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.
