CDPHP's Ovia app shows promising results in improving maternal health outcomes
by Lara Bryn
Wed, October 30th 2024 at 6:50 AM
Updated Wed, October 30th 2024 at 7:00 AM
Now more than ever, healthcare professionals are focusing on achieving positive outcomes with maternal health and pregnancy. That's why CDPHP is particularly impressed with an app they started offering for pregnant women and new moms that's proving to show some incredible results.
When Kyla Pemberton plays with her sweet baby, Noah, she can't help but feel grateful he's here, happy and healthy and that she had a healthy pregnancy. She credits at least some of that to CDPHP's Ovia app. "I was probably four or five months along and I thought ‘Oh hey, I’m a first-time mom. I’m always lookin for more information,’" said Pemberton.
She learned about the Ovia app through the CDPHP newsletter. As a CDPHP member, the app was free and included information, articles and access to healthcare professionals throughout her pregnancy and postpartum period. "Especially in the early pregnancy, you can’t feel all those kicks and you can’t know all those things. it was a way to kind of feel connected to Noah while he was growing still," said Pemberton.
CDPHP did a lot of research on what company they would work with to offer the app. But since partnering with Ovia in 2022, 3,000 CDPHP members have signed up and among those users, 6% fewer pregnancies have ended in a C-section. "We have run a couple analyses that have demonstrated members that have used an engaged the Ovia app were three-and-a-quarter times less likely to experience a pre-term birth, compared to our members who did not use the Ovia app," said CDPHP Family Health Marketing Manager Cassie Diorio.
The app's purpose doesn't end when the baby is born either. Pemberton says she's using it even more now in these postpartum months, especially after she started experiencing postpartum depression and anxiety. "So I looked on the app. I messaged a health coach, which is also free to do and excellent. I got a response from two different people, same day, day after," said Pemberton.