In contrast with other wealthy countries, the U.S. lags with regards to maternal well being outcomes. Maternal mortality charges have generally worsened since 1987, reaching 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020. The mortality price for Black ladies was almost thrice larger than the speed for white ladies.
Melissa Hanna, CEO and cofounder of maternal well being startup Mahmee, sat down with MobiHealthNews to debate how their platform goals to enhance being pregnant and postpartum care, the corporate’s recent $9.2 million Series A raise and the rising digital maternal well being panorama. This interview was edited for readability and size.
MobiHealthNews: Are you able to inform me a bit about how Mahmee works from the affected person perspective?
Melissa Hanna: New and anticipating mother and father can be a part of Mahmee totally free. And the core side of that have for anybody who’s becoming a member of consists of the unified well being file for mother and child. So, they’re capable of hyperlink collectively well being file data from the mom’s medical historical past and being pregnant historical past to the childbirth expertise, and child’s delivery story and first yr of life. So, we actually give attention to conception by way of the infant’s first yr of life and documenting all the facets of care and well being that occurred throughout that point.
One other a part of that’s entry to the nationwide Mahmee community of suppliers which might be utilizing our software program throughout the nation. [They] are primarily community-based delivery and toddler care professionals. So these are of us that could be midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, residence visiting nurses or residence well being suppliers, nutritionists, therapists, social staff. They’re all varieties of community-based professionals that sufferers are prone to interface with sooner or later throughout their maternity expertise however are sometimes not thought of core members of the affected person’s care group the way in which that OB-GYNs and pediatricians are.
And Mahmee’s attempting to vary that. We’re attempting to make it simpler for fogeys to combine these group care professionals into their common course of care since we all know that it is actually these community-based professionals which have the best likelihood for offering high-touch preventative care.
The ultimate piece is the power to trace vitals and observe psychological well being and different key facets of the being pregnant and postpartum journey that may be early alerts of issues and dangers. So, actually having the ability to preserve all that in a single place – handle your care group, handle your well being, personal your well being file for you and your child – are the three items of that puzzle.
MHN: So, there are clearly problems with traditional maternal healthcare within the U.S. What do you assume are a few of the largest points that you just’re hoping Mahmee will assist repair?
Hanna: The primary may be very excessive fragmentation. This can be a very fragmented market, the place there’s simply a variety of completely different varieties of execs usually working in quite a lot of scientific and outpatient settings that present quite a lot of completely different companies to new and anticipating mother and father. And in lots of circumstances, they do not have the digital instruments and knowledge sharing capability to work collectively and collaborate on that care. So, there’s simply a variety of completely different items of a puzzle unfold out, and the affected person turns into answerable for linking all the things collectively and having the burden of re-sharing their story with each new one that joins their care group.
That fragmentation shouldn’t be going to go away. This can be a extremely privatized market. There’s lots of people that work “out of community,” and I do not see that basically altering any time quickly. And, to resolve that top fragmentation, we constructed know-how that hyperlinks folks collectively in a means that enables them to speak and collaborate in order that it seems like they’re working collectively, even when all of them work in several organizations in several environments.
The second factor is systemic racism and bias in healthcare. That is one thing that has existed for the reason that basis of this nation and the formation of the obstetrics and gynecological trade. And we have to acknowledge that we have now not paid consideration to the wants of Black and brown ladies, particularly Black and Indigenous ladies. Broadly, we have now not been actively listening to moms for a very long time, which is why our maternal mortality stats are the place they’re, as a result of we’re ready for issues to occur somewhat than actively stopping them from occurring with extra scientific and psychosocial help.
The best way that we’re addressing systemic racism and bias in maternal and toddler healthcare is by first constructing out a nationwide community of culturally competent suppliers {and professional} delivery professionals that perceive the way to meet sufferers the place they’re at, and acknowledge that lived expertise is a component of your complete journey of being pregnant and postpartum.
We have to acknowledge that lived expertise. We will not all the time match a affected person with somebody who seems like them or comes from their group, however we are able to match sufferers with suppliers who acknowledge the systemic racism and bias that that affected person might have skilled – of their lifetime and of their healthcare expertise general – and start to deal with and unpack that.
MHN: You latterly accomplished your Sequence A. How do you propose on utilizing that funding?
Hanna: We’re completely increasing our group to have the ability to serve extra sufferers and suppliers by way of our platform. So, that is the primary factor, rising that group in each course. We’re posting jobs each few days.
It is actually necessary that we proceed to enhance the digital expertise for sufferers and suppliers on Mahmee. That features issues like releasing a local cellular product and bettering accessibility and consumer expertise throughout the board. So product and engineering is a giant space for hiring within the firm. We have already introduced some new of us on, and we will proceed rising there. After which, after all, we even have our nurses and care coordinators in-house.
MHN: Digital well being funding has slowed so far this year, nevertheless it looks as if there are a number of startups which might be excited by maternal and reproductive healthcare and bettering that have. Do you assume buyers are extra excited by maternal well being proper now? And if that’s the case, why do you assume this inflection level is occurring proper now?
Hanna: That is a terrific query. I do assume that we’re coming to an inflection level. I truly do not assume we’re there but.
Primarily based on our fundraising experiences in 2021 and 2022, it is clear to me that the majority buyers nonetheless are not sure of the way to consider affect and assess the worth of maternal and toddler health-focused options. There may be nonetheless very often within the funding panorama a pull towards consumer-facing options that form of eschews the healthcare trade itself.
MHN: Like an app the place somebody will observe [their pregnancy] day by day for themselves, versus working with a supplier.
Hanna: Sure, precisely. There’s a variety of extra conventional shopper approaches popping up in maternal and toddler healthcare, claiming to have the ability to resolve a few of the elementary challenges that this discipline is dealing with. However the place I see a misalignment available in the market is that the basic challenges that this discipline is dealing with are systemic. You possibly can’t repair the healthcare trade with out working with the healthcare trade.
It is not that direct-to-consumer options are ineffective. The truth is, typically, they are often precisely what the affected person wants to enhance their healthcare journey. Nonetheless, the problem is that this specific vertical is at the moment suffering from extraordinarily expensive systemic points, together with however not restricted to systemic racism, waste and reactive medication, fragmentation, regional disparities in care, maternity deserts missing the important service suppliers which might be wanted for protected and wholesome childbirth. So there is not any quantity of child monitoring or maternity monitoring alone that is going to resolve a few of these challenges.
I do not wish to be too self-righteous about this; it has been extraordinarily onerous to work on this trade. It does not transfer simply or shortly in any course. A lot of that has to do with the truth that ladies’s well being and girls’s lives and rights have been taken as a right and neglected, or in some circumstances, outright ignored.
Over the previous 12 months, we have seen extra momentum, extra motion within the house usually. I famous that I do not assume that we’re on the inflection level but. I believe there’s nonetheless extra pleasure and constructive development on this market to come back. It does not assist us if we’re the one ones available in the market. I believe that there is some thrilling motion right here occurring general, and I simply do not assume we’re on the pinnacle but of individuals actually understanding what’s attainable.
