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How Babyscripts Powers ‘Connected Pregnancies’ and Brings OB Care Where It’s Needed · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  [ on-hold music] Instead of a patient going in x, like let's say 20 times during the pregnancy, um, you know, we actually will work with the practice to physically change how they see their patients at large, so across the entire practice, by relying on BabyScripts tools.
• 0:24
  And so it's that ability to incentivize, motivate change, answering the, the, those edge cases, um, you know, that's really our expertise, on top of obviously keeping patients engaged, being able to integrate into tr- triage.
• 0:40
  I mean, that's the BabyScript special sauce, and- Yeah... you know, y- you, you can't just buy that off the shelf.
• 0:49
  [on-hold music] Welcome to Startup Health NOW, the podcast where we celebrate the entrepreneurs and innovators reimagining the future of health. I'm Logan Plaster.
• 1:00
  Today, we're talking with Juan Pablo Segura, co-founder of BabyScripts, about virtual healthcare for moms-to-be.
• 1:07
  Did you know that around 50% of the counties in the United States don't have an OBGYN to take care of moms when they're expecting?
• 1:15
  That is millions and millions of women who don't have access to an OB for prenatal or primary care.
• 1:21
  At BabyScripts, Juan Pablo and his co-founder, Anish Sebastian, put together a kit of devices that pairs with an app so that OBs can monitor the health of their patients every day virtually.
• 1:31
  Given the access problem that I just mentioned, it's an area of health where virtual care just made a lot of sense, but the COVID pandemic tipped it over the edge.
• 1:39
  Technology that used to be forward-thinking and nice to have is now a must-have for OBs, which is good news for expectant moms everywhere. We'll get into all that in the interview with Juan Pablo.
• 1:50
  We'll talk about why bringing care to Medicaid populations is so critical right now and why BabyScripts is doubling down on mental health services. Stay with us. [on-hold music] All right.
• 2:07
  Juan Pablo Segura, co-founder of BabyScripts, thanks for being with me today on Startup Health TV. So great to be here with you. Awesome. Always, uh, fun to hear what is the, what's the new, uh, word from BabyScripts.
• 2:21
  Um, for our viewers who might not know what you've built, just give us the elevator pitch, the quick understanding of what BabyScripts is. Sure, absolutely. Um, so, and again, thanks for having me on.
• 2:32
  Uh, so BabyScripts, essentially a, a new model for managing pregnancy care through technology. And so the idea and what we're singularly focused on is creating what we call virtual maternity care experiences.
• 2:47
  So right now in the US, there's a massive access to care crisis. 50% of counties in the US don't have a practicing OBGYN.
• 2:57
  Um, and there's also kind of a, a 9,000 provider, OB provider shortage, um, today, uh, that makes it really hard for women to get the necessary amount of prenatal care.
• 3:09
  So what we do through both digital app experiences and remote patient monitoring is we essentially move the delivery of care out of the clinic and into the home through BabyScripts.
• 3:21
  Uh, and so right now, you know, we're in 31 states. We cover about 200,000 women a year, pregnant women a year.
• 3:29
  Um, and, y- you know, we're, we're working with more than 80 health systems and essentially creating these virtual maternity care experiences to help discover and identify problems a lot earlier in the pregnancy.
• 3:42
  Obviously, everyone watching this knows that COVID-19 was a huge shot of adrenaline in the f- i- in the world of virtual care. And so, uh, BabyScripts was obviously sort of right place, right time for that.
• 3:54
  But more, more specifically, how did the coronavirus impact how people view virtual maternity care? Yeah.
• 4:03
  You know, to your point, it, it really was a shot of adrenaline, uh, in the system or, or in people's understanding of virtual care. Uh, you know, when we were...
• 4:12
  Before COVID, obviously, you know, we were on the cutting edge of technology kind of care delivery in obstetrics.
• 4:19
  Um, but what happened with COVID, and we would see [chuckles] this and when we would go and pitch BabyScripts to practices, right?
• 4:26
  So you always had that kind of early adopter group of physicians or practitioners at a practice.
• 4:33
  Uh, and they were the ones leading the charge, trying to get BabyScripts installed, but you always had a couple holdouts, right? Yeah. The laggards. Yeah.
• 4:39
  And the way, and I think this is one of the challenges in healthcare transformation, is that everything in healthcare is done by consensus, s- especially if it's more senior physicians in a practice.
• 4:50
  They could actually block the purchase or the, the change in kind of a new protocol. Um, and, you know, I think this kind of
• 4:59
  brings up a very interesting and separate conversation about what we can do with those kinds of structures and frameworks, um, in kind of making it easier to buy and to adopt new technology and innovation in care delivery.
• 5:12
  But, um, so again, you know, before COVID, you know, you would have some holdouts that would really kind of, uh, delay or, or, or, or stop deals i in, in their tracks.
• 5:22
  With COVID, COVID forced everyone to buy through and to have to use virtual healthcare. Um, and so the...
• 5:31
  what we're seeing now is that there's no longer this institutional holdout, you know, practitioner that, that can block a deal. Like, virtual is here.
• 5:42
  No one can say that it doesn't work because that's what had to be used for a year of care delivery, right? Um, and so I, I think that's what's most exciting to me, is that we've broken down the
• 5:57
  kind of, uh, the holdout or the laggard kind of typical block-Uh, uh, or, or, uh, stalwart, right?
• 6:06
  And, and that, that's been, that, that persona has almost disappeared, and, and that's what's gonna usher in and help usher in even more innovation in digital care transformation. Interesting.
• 6:16
  What about adoption among patients and their just general acceptance of, of virtual maternity care? Yeah, I mean, we've, we've done controlled randomized prospective trials, right?
• 6:27
  This was before ba- before COVID, um, to kind of showcase that patients want more options in their care, and that, you know, they are looking for 21st century experiences using technology, um, particularly in this patient population.
• 6:42
  I mean, you know, we are generationally in a very different kind of place than, you know, where our parents or grandparents were, right? Where most women are working nowadays. Uh, they also have to...
• 6:53
  They're, they're kind of not only, you know, either, you know, the breadwinners or obviously contributing to the household, but they're, and financially, but they're also in charge of childcare.
• 7:03
  So they're juggling a lot [laughs] of very different kind of important just family dynamics and, you know, for them to have to keep going into the office, waiting an hour in the waiting room, getting seen for three minutes, and a provider that's got 30 patients a day on their schedule, you know, th- women were already asking for options.
• 7:21
  And I think with COVID, um, obviously it forced change, but, uh, you know, I think it only amplified something that women were already asking for. Um, and so... Or just patients in general, right?
• 7:34
  It's not just specific to obstetrics. But, uh, it, it definitely, again, um, is, is amplifying a, a much needed change in care delivery. So I know you give moms a, a suite of tools, Bluetooth-enabled devices.
• 7:49
  Maybe you could describe kind of what you give them. But more importantly, kinda is it about the tech or is it kind of about more about how you use it and tie it into a holistic system?
• 8:00
  Yeah, no, so it's a great question. Um, so just kind of nuts and bolts, the BabyScripts experience, or, or at least the component parts. Uh, so yes, there's an app component, um, our, our app that you can download.
• 8:12
  You actually can't use it unless you're invited by your physician. Um, and then there are a couple internet-enabled medical devices. Uh, so Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuffs, weight scales.
• 8:23
  Um, we've even, you know, messed around with b- blood glucometers. Um, so that, that's, th- those are the kinds of devices that, that go in the BabyScripts kit.
• 8:32
  Now, you know, as it relates to scaling and what makes us special, yes, I think we've got a great app. Um, our...
• 8:39
  Quite a few algorithms, different kind of compliance matrices that, that we bring to the table on the tech side that make the product effective.
• 8:48
  But I would say, and I think this applies to kind of digital health at large, is really the secret sauce or where you generate exponential value as a company, is whether or not you know how to fit into workflow, and whether you can actually change care protocols and, and you have the capability of being able to integrate into the medical record, to, um, be able to create data packages a- and, and, and risk profiles for, for payers.
• 9:16
  Uh, and, and so yes, the, the remote patient monitoring component parts, the infrastructure, all of that is important, but really how we've differentiated ourselves in the market is we're the only ones that can scale virtual care experiences across thousands, hundreds of thousands of patients.
• 9:34
  Um, and, and, and getting into the, the care protocol piece is, I think, the last mile and really the, the, the, the, the, the area that more people need to address because a- again, the tech pieces, you know, can become commodities.
• 9:50
  It's really what you do with that tech and how you integrate it. Can you explain what you mean by changing care protocols? Uh, obviously you're kind of moving upstream into the physician's behavior. Yeah.
• 10:00
  Yeah, so for example, one of our products, um, we actually go into a provider group and we will automate 50% of the routine prenatal care.
• 10:12
  So instead of a patient going in ex- like, let's say 20 times during the pregnancy, um, you know, we actually will work with the practice to physically change how they see their patients at large, so across the entire practice, by relying on BabyScripts tools.
• 10:30
  Um, and so it's that ability to both incentivize, motivate change, um, you know, create that infrastructure, those care protocols, answering the, the, those edge cases.
• 10:44
  Um, you know, that's really our expertise on top of obviously keeping patients engaged, being able to integrate into triage. I mean, that's the BabyScripts special sauce and- Yeah...
• 10:55
  you know, you, you can't just buy that off the shelf. Yeah. And, and that's what you need the research for, you need the validation for, and that's what makes us pretty special. Got it.
• 11:03
  So what I'm, what I'm guessing is, what I'm hearing is the patient is now getting a- automated texts at an appropriate time with a question, a chance for them to maybe respond with a piece of data.
• 11:13
  I'm guessing all of that goes into the record. Yeah. I mean, now, now we're talking more about the patient. I was talking more about the provider perspective. Got it. Got it. Yeah.
• 11:20
  But the pa- obviously there's an app, there's, you know, a, a, it's kind of an Instagram-esque timeline experience with relevant content. They can pair their devices through our app.
• 11:32
  They can take their measurements at home. We integrate that data back into provider triage, so if anything's wrong, we can alert the provider within 15 minutes- Got it... that there's a problem.
• 11:42
  And so yeah, I mean, that's where the tech piece of BabyScripts comes in, and that's what makes us really special is that whole system behind the scenes, um, that, that obviously can, like, take the data and filter out things that are important and not important.
• 11:56
  Um, but again, I, I think it's a double-edged or double-sided coin, right?
• 12:00
  It's you need to have a tech product, a scalable platform, but you als- you also have to have that capability to really integrate into provider workflow and, and that's what, you know, it's that combination that makes us unique.
• 12:13
  Y- you talked about at the beginning about how, h- big of an issue access was, uh, for BabyScripts from the very beginning and how you said 50- YeahUh, 50% of sta- uh, what was it? [laughs] Counties.
• 12:25
  50% of counties 50, 50% of w- of counties don't have an obstetrician. Yeah.
• 12:30
  Um, last year during the pandemic, I understand you came out with a virtual maternity care playbook for underserved populations, talking about how this all plays with the Medicare population.
• 12:40
  And I, I wonder if you could speak to that for a minute and kind of, uh, where do you see this going and growing in the Medicare population? Yeah, I, you know, I... So couple different things. Uh, Medicaid, right? Okay.
• 12:52
  Because there are no Medicare pop, uh, pregnancies. That's right. There are very few. To be 65 and pregnant, that's a little bit of a medical miracle.
• 12:59
  Uh, but, uh, um, but yeah, I think the first thing that we did with COVID and the onset of COVID is we saw that the traditional barriers, right?
• 13:13
  So already there was an infrastructure problem in the delivery of OB care before COVID, right? 50% of counties don't have an OB. More than 55% of counties don't have a practicing nurse midwife.
• 13:24
  Um, so there were already issues. And so when we kind of ramped up to help our providers and new providers use virtual care to help their patients have a healthy pregnancy, um, we saw that very quickly,
• 13:39
  like, this space could start to ignore and exacerbate a lot of the already standing issues- Sure... um, that exist.
• 13:49
  And, you know, w- you know, obviously the, the conversation on race has evolved a, a, a lot [laughs] in the last nine months.
• 13:58
  Um, and, and it, and it, it has had to, um, because of all of the systemic challenges that we have.
• 14:04
  Um, but, you know, one of the things we saw was that there were just a lot of, um, uneducated, um, and also kind of racist opinions on, you know, what patients, like, what, for example, Medicaid moms, um, actually want out of their pregnancy.
• 14:21
  I mean, there, there's these myths that patients don't care about their health, that they're completely irresponsible or, or just irresponsible in general, uh, around their behaviors.
• 14:30
  And, and so, you know, we, we created a playbook to showcase. I mean, 70% of the patients on BabyScripts are Medicaid patients. Um, and so we have a lot of data.
• 14:40
  Uh, we have, we have the ability to really shape the conversation, and so we just released a playbook, and to, to kind of start dispelling some of the myths around using technology to help Medicaid moms that are pregnant.
• 14:53
  Um, and, you know, it, it, it obviously got a lot of acclaim and, and a lot of recognition, which I appreciate.
• 15:00
  Um, but I, I think we, the, the tech companies, have to be very, you know, cognizant that, you know, it's not just we're building products.
• 15:09
  Like, we're, we're also, we're, we're also part of the conversation, and we, we have to contribute to the conversation. Um, because, you know, there are a lot of very,
• 15:22
  again, uneducated and, I mean, it's really, like, sad kind of notions. Even I, I'd say in the investor community.
• 15:30
  And the investor community's changing, thank God, but a lot of people, like, wouldn't wanna touch Medicaid with a 10-foot pole. And it's like, what are you talking about? It's one of the largest payers in the US.
• 15:38
  I mean, [laughs] 50% of pregnancies are on Medicaid. Like, if we're gonna make a dent and we're gonna help moms, we gotta, we gotta tackle this. We gotta go head in and, and really focus on this patient population.
• 15:48
  So, so yeah, that, that's a, a long answer, but, you know, I, I get kind of a l- I get, uh, I get spirited when we start talking about these things. Yeah. Huge need, huge opportunity.
• 15:58
  Um, and I'm glad you guys have focused on it. Um, well, I think last question is really kind of the future question. I mean, you guys have had a big year, um, last year, this year.
• 16:08
  You were recently named one of the five health startups to watch by Entrepreneur Magazine. Looking ahead, uh, two things. What's next for, in the frontier of virtual maternity care?
• 16:20
  And then more lar- you know, i- in, in a bigger way, what's next for BabyScripts?
• 16:26
  Yeah, so I don't want to, uh, share too much of the product roadmap, uh, you know, uh, w- [laughs] without, uh, w- w- k- to, to anyone that, you know, might m- maybe be a potential competitor or, or, uh, you know, has more nefarious plans with our roadmap.
• 16:43
  Uh, but, you know, I, I think a big focus of ours has always been Medicaid. W- We'll continue to be that. Um, and we actually are about to announce some pretty large partnerships with some- Okay...
• 16:53
  managed Medicaid plans across the country. So, you know, really excited about that.
• 16:58
  Um, you know, I'll, I'll tease just one little piece of, of what we're working on, um, which is really substance abuse, particularly in this patient population.
• 17:08
  So really excited about, you know, doing some more work in that space.
• 17:12
  Um, and then, and then, yeah, you know, we've, we're, the, the, the outcomes that we're getting, I mean, again, there's, there's a lot that, that I, that's coming pretty quick.
• 17:21
  But, uh, but, you know, to be continued, and tune in to that. I lied. I have one more question, which is that I believe you're piloting a, uh, a program around mental health. Uh, is that true? Yeah.
• 17:34
  So we already released the news there, um, and that's our newest experience, Maternal Mental Health. Yeah. Um, which, you know, has been, uh- Why, why is mental health so important to maternal health?
• 17:44
  I mean, when you look- Yeah... when you look at the post experience, I mean, we really leave our moms hanging, uh, as a society, as a, as a country. Um, you know, more than 60% of moms have the baby blues.
• 17:54
  You know, about 20% of moms have clinical postpartum depression. So when we start looking at, you know, where gaps of care are, I mean, postpartum, the fourth trimester is just, you know, needs desperately help.
• 18:08
  And so, yeah, that's our newest product, Maternal Mental Health, a whole screening tool set with interventions and, you know, a, a whole suite of incredible kind of, uh, risk detection flags.
• 18:20
  So yeah, we're really excited about that. That is awesome. All right. Well, Juan Pablo, that's the time we have. Um, always great to catch up with you, hear about what you're building.
• 18:29
  Excited to see that you're moving into these, these new areas, new, uh, large payers, mental health, um, Medicaid. [upbeat music] And yeah, uh, we're gonna be watching you closely in 2021. Thanks a lot.
• 18:41
  Appreciated being on. All right, take care. Be well. [upbeat music] Thanks for listening to Startup Health NOW.
• 18:53
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• 18:59
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• 19:07
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