A new artificial intelligence-driven pregnancy chatbot is designed to protect pregnant women and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
The Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats is being deployed now to obstetric practices throughout the healthcare system at a time when the United States has the highest rates of maternal-related health problems and morbidity among the world’s industrialized nations.
The chatbot is designed to serve as an educational program as well as a virtual safety net intended to recognize urgent concerns and ensure prompt help when needed for women during and after pregnancy.
Each week of a patient’s pregnancy, the tool offers informational dialogs that are based on the stage of pregnancy and personalized according to the woman’s self-reported risk factors. Many of the chat’s questions are designed to help patients notice subtle changes sooner than they might have otherwise, helping to prompt earlier detection if there are developing complications.
Linking seamlessly with a Northwell care management team, the chatbot is designed to escalate in-person clinical care, usually the woman’s provider, if her responses indicate a potentially serious issue. Any red-flag responses trigger an immediate call from a care navigator at Northwell Health Solutions, or, in some cases, instructions to call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
A pilot program at a Northwell obstetric practice revealed the tool’s effectiveness. In the pilot, 1,632 patients used the chatbot, 96% of whom reported being satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the experience. The program successfully identified urgent health problems in a handful of users. For example, a woman whose responses raised concerns about her blood pressure prompted a message to call 911, and it was found that she had severe preeclampsia and needed hospitalization.
In another instance, during an automated new-parent chat, a woman shared that she had experienced thoughts self-harm. The patient revealed that she had not shared her symptoms with her provider but felt comfortable acknowledging them to the chatbot because of the feeling of anonymity. The care team reached out immediately and within 24 hours connected her with a psychiatrist and other mental health support.
“Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats are both extremely comprehensive and highly individualized and are designed to complement the interactions patients have with their providers,” Dr. Michael Nimaroff, senior vice president of Northwell’s OB/GYN service line and chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology for North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, said in a statement. “It’s a way to ensure women are never without support, whether they’re in a doctor’s office or in their own home.”
The Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats were developed in conjunction with Conversa Health (part of Amwell), a provider of automated virtual health. Spanning pregnancy and the first year postpartum, the chats include a health risk assessment and cover maternal and fetal changes throughout pregnancy, blood pressure tracking, prenatal testing, birth plans, lactation support and more. The chatbot will eventually be offered to women receiving pregnancy care at clinics and OB practices throughout the region served by Northwell. Sign-up is at no cost to the patient, and chats can be accessed on a patient’s smartphone, tablet or computer.
The tool is part of Northwell’s initiative to reduce the country’s maternal mortality rate. In the U.S., 26 out of 100,000 women die during childbirth, compared to 4 out of 100,000 in Italy and Denmark and 9 out of 100,000 in the United Kingdom. The risk is particularly extreme for Black women in the United States, who are three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.
“Far too many pregnant and birthing people in this country suffer harm or even die because of problems that are entirely preventable. Northwell is committed to doing whatever is necessary to reduce those risks,” Dr. Dawnette Lewis, director of Northwell’s Center for Maternal Health, said in a statement.
Launched last year, the center aims to address the maternal mortality rate through a multitude of programs, focusing both on hospital care and community-based wellness efforts.
“By bringing together high-tech innovation and high-touch clinical care, the Northwell Health Pregnancy Chats will help keep women and babies safe,” Lewis said.
