Babyscripts' app available at Wisconsin health network, Adherium supplying smart inhalers to asthmatic LA kids, and more digital health deals

Also: quip to sell its oral health products at Target; HealthEdge's software suite coming to Fluent Health.
By Dave Muoio
03:26 pm
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Babyscripts announced today that its prenatal app has become available to mothers and doctors at the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin health network. Later this year the network will also enable mothers to opt into the service’s data sharing component to allow remote patient monitoring tool for OB/GYNs.

“Expectant patients are now able to access evidenced-based education anytime to guide them and give them more confidence about taking care of themselves during pregnancy,” Dr. Meredith Cruz, a maternal fetal medicine specialist with the Froedtert & MCW health network, said in a statement. “We know that meeting our patients where they are and connecting in a personal and meaningful way outside of the clinic walls can improve the health and well-being of expectant moms and their babies.”

Babyscripts, which acquired the iBirth pregnancy app in June, offers providers a digital patient management dashboard with data collected through connected devices such as scales, blood pressure cuffs, and a patient mobile app. From these, the platform delivers insights identifying which patients may require a follow up or intervention.

Blue Shield of California Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to SmartAirLA — a public-private partnership between the City of Los Angeles, its department of public health, digital inhaler maker Adherium, and others — to improve air quality and reduce the burden of asthma in the city. To do so, the group will be providing asthmatic, underserved LA children with Adherium’s connected Bluetooth inhalers.

"This project puts the internet-of-things in the hands of the people who need it the most, underserved children who are literally, struggling for breath," Peter Long, president and CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, said in a statement. "And it will help their communities advocate for a healthier environment with a powerful new dataset."

International retail chain Target will soon be selling starter kits for quip, an electric toothbrush service that includes an online oral health education, engagement, and appointment reminder component. Coming at $25, the kits will point consumers toward the company’s online platform where they can manage subscriptions and brush against the oral health company’s additional services.

“We have always been eager to increase access to high quality yet affordable oral care products through retail, but we were only willing to do so with a partner that understood how important it is to continue to help consumers maintain good oral care habits every day after purchase, and for life,” Simon Enever, CEO and cofounder of quip, said in a statement. “We’re delighted that Target understands the health benefit that a quip subscription brings to their guests, and are excited to work together to create a unique experience that guides guests through the habits that make up a perfect oral care routine.”

HealthEdge — a software maker with an integrated financial, administrative and clinical platform built for health payers — has partnered with Fluent Health, a subsidiary of Presbyterian Healthcare Services that helps health systems transition to value-based care. Fluent Health will use HealthEdge’s HealthRules Payor product suite to support new business models and drive more efficient operations.

“The HealthRules platform provides Fluent Health and our partnering health systems a unique opportunity to lower the cost of care by creating greater administrative efficiencies and developing an increasingly sophisticated population health-based approach to care management,” Jack Towsley, president of Fluent Health, said in a statement. “The end result is that our partnering provider-led plans, and their members, achieve a maximized return on the health plan premium dollar.”

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