“I am taking care of moms who were told yesterday that their baby was normal and told today that their baby is abnormal. That is one of the most anxious periods in a woman’s life. [The mother’s] stress level goes through the roof, and we’ve not done a good job of helping parents deal with the shocking news that this is not a normal pregnancy. So that is what we are working on today [with Memora] –  a way to begin to address these things…in the privacy of the patient’s home.” 

Dr. Kenneth Moise recently joined Memorians in a candid conversation about the challenges clinicians face in healthcare today, and how we can all work together to better support them and the patients they serve. Dr. Moise is a board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialist and serves as Co-Director of the Comprehensive Fetal Care Center, a clinical partnership between Dell Children’s Medical Center and UT Health Austin. He specializes in fetal medicine and is a professor in the Dell Medical School Department of Women’s Health.

In March, Memora Health announced a research study with Ascension’s Dell Children’s Medical Center to help care teams better engage patients at its Comprehensive Fetal Care Center. Memora’s AI-driven messaging will inform and drive a more dynamic care journey, tailored to each individual scenario, further engaging and supporting mothers at home and in need of both proactive and ongoing interventions; while also reducing email messaging volumes and notifications to care teams. 

Millions of women give birth in the U.S. every year. Most pregnancies may progress without incident, but some pregnancies involve complications that may be harmful to the mother or the baby if left untreated. 
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So, how exactly does Memora’s technology fit into maternal-fetal care? 

1. We're meeting patients where they are

Memora is on a mission to meet patients where they are. A priority for Memora as the leading technology platform for virtual care delivery and complex care management is to help healthcare systems extend care beyond their physical walls. 

The research study with Memora and Ascension’s Dell Children’s Medical Center, explained Dr. Moise, is going to allow the patients to use their cellphones from home to engage in surveys that will help their care teams better understand how they are doing and where they need additional support. Dr. Moise discussed with the Memora team, “We want patients to use their cellphones to answer these surveys, and that makes so much more sense than them sitting down in front of me and getting put on the spot to tell me how they are doing.” 

Patients have access to our platform through their cell phones and can navigate their care journey with simple SMS from the comfort of their own home. Fewer drives to the clinic mean more time at home for nesting mamas-to-be! 
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2. Always-on engagement is at the core of what we do

Our always-on platform provides insights to care teams in real-time and is ready to respond to patients whenever they have a question, day or night. Memora proactively engages and educates patients, driving adherence to treatment plans, monitoring conditions, and answering questions along the way. 

Throughout the chat with Dr. Moise, the importance of real-time messaging powered by Memora was a consistent theme. According to Dr. Moise, there are still a lot of unknowns around what happens with the patient between in-office visits. Providing discharged patients with access to Memora’s platform will help providers fill in those care journey gaps.

At its core, Memora Health acts as a new care team member who can manage and support patients in-between visits, and escalate issues when they arise. We’re helping take care teams from super stressed to superhuman and assisting patients to feel more supported with proactive, ongoing engagement.
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“Being able to get an answer in real-time without having to stress on waiting to talk to someone is so important” – Anonymous Patient, Postpartum Support Program

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3. We are advancing health equity for moms

A priority for Memora is to ensure that we are empowering our patients. Our easily accessible, free SMS system is democratizing access to care and giving some of the least-resourced patient populations the opportunity to truly engage in their care journey. In our chat with Dr. Moise, he gave us his opinion that “the smartphone is going to empower the patient to take care of themselves, which is how it should be.”

Moms of color are two times more likely to have postpartum depression symptoms, and about fifty percent of those moms do not report those symptoms to their care team. Memora is not only simply and securely screening these moms for signs of postpartum depression — we are helping moms with common newborn questions and triaging any other symptoms they may have before an escalation to the care team may be needed. 

It is a very exciting time to be at the forefront of transforming patient care with always-on engagement. For Memora, we look forward to playing a pivotal role in helping more healthcare systems extend beyond their physical walls by providing them with the tools and support they need to reach their patients — wherever they are.

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