Ovia Health’s science-first approach to outcomes-based programming

Dani Bradley, MPH

Ovia Health shows the importance of taking the scientific approach to creating effective and impactful consumer and enterprise health solutions.

Ever since Ovia Health launched in 2012, our mission to improve the world for women and families has been central to everything we do. As a company built on empirical evidence and committed to the rigor of the scientific process, we’ve built partnerships with leading research institutions in order to tackle some of healthcare’s most complex challenges. Our work has allowed us to build programs with demonstrated clinical efficacy and also contribute to research that informs healthcare policy and elevates the standard of care for millions of families. A scientific approach is the key to creating effective and impactful products, programs, and services.

Ovia Health’s Reach & Research

It has always been our intention to do our part to advance the fields of women’s and family health. By earning the trust of over 15 million families and demonstrating unparalleled levels of engagement, Ovia Health has become a premiere research partner with one of the largest anonymized datasets on women’s health in the world — several billion data points available to answer the most pressing questions. Recognizing the limitations of traditional research methods, including cite-based studies, sample size limitations, and exorbitant cost, we knew our scale could meaningfully contribute to scientific research.*

Working with members to improve care

We are incredibly honored to have a highly engaged and diverse member base of families who trust us to guide them on their journeys. In turn, we trust and depend on our community to inform what we do, including product development, clinical research, and institutional partnerships, because we recognize that in order for healthcare to improve, the patient must be at the center. 

When we created our program to reduce the incidence of preeclampsia, a dangerous and sometimes deadly condition characterized by high blood pressure in pregnancy, we knew we needed to focus on barriers to treatment identified by patients themselves. In order to increase the utilization of low-dose aspirin, a medication that has been shown to significantly reduce the likelihood of developing preeclampsia among those at risk, we leaned on our community, and we learned a lot. We published and presented our findings at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual conference and used the results to design our Preeclampsia Prevention and Management programming. The program focuses on improving education and trust in the medication, enhancing patient-provider communication, and overall accessibility and adherence — resulting in an 18% reduction in cases of preeclampsia. This is just one example of the ways our community and our commitment to science have allowed us to create a solution that is fundamentally changing the way high-risk conditions are managed. 

Together with our nearly 40 academic research partners, we have been able to address the most pressing issues facing women’s and family health today. 

Together, we explore questions like:

  • What is the true incidence of miscarriage? And why do they occur more often in some communities than others?
  • Are there symptoms that can be identified during pregnancy to alert patients and providers to behavioral health conditions?
  • What is the best way to navigate eligible people to resources shown to improve outcomes, particularly among underserved communities?
  • How can we help highlight the differential experiences in the US healthcare system between Black and White women, in order to address the disturbing 3-4x higher maternal mortality rate among Black women? 

We are working with researchers around the world to answer these pressing questions — from our relationship with Dr. Michael O’Hara and his team at the University of Iowa, to our partnership with Dr. Jenna Nobles at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to Dr. Joia Crear-Perry at the National Birth Equity Collaborative (NBEC), and our many colleagues at the Harvard Schools of Public Health and Medicine, including Dr. Neel Shah and Dr. Ateev Mehrotra.

Ovia Health is built with empirical evidence in partnership with nearly 40 academic research institutions alongside leaders from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Ariadne Labs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Birth Equity Collaborative and more.

Ovia Health & COVID-19

Most recently, Ovia Health has assumed our role in helping families navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The current health emergency has brought on an immeasurable number of stressors including illness, childcare limitations, financial strain, social isolation, and more. We have been monitoring these experiences and rapidly developing strategies and tools to support our community in real-time. For instance, in March 2020 Ovia Health was the first to release a COVID-19 symptom tool, specifically geared towards pregnant women. Since then, we’ve maintained clinical guideline-driven information regarding COVID-19 symptoms, risks, and now, vaccines. We’ve curated decision-making support to help parents navigate the unique challenges of working without childcare, and our coaches — a team of licensed healthcare professionals — increased messaging and telephonic services by 240% in 2020. We’ve also contributed to broader understanding of the patient and parent experience during the pandemic, with publications in the Journal of Patient Experience and Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, and an upcoming presentation at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in May 2021. 

As a digital healthcare company serving millions of members in a world profoundly impacted by the pandemic, Ovia Health is pioneering a future where the patient is at the center of healthcare. With the strain on the healthcare system caused by the pandemic, there is an even greater need for a reliable and scalable approach to preventative care. We are honored to be trusted by millions of women and families, who we thoughtfully and empathetically guide through their healthcare journeys, and we remain committed to contributing to the advancement of women’s and family health science. 

Ovia Health is empowering women and families to make the best choices for their health and helping companies make the most of their health programs. To learn more, please visit oviahealth.com, schedule a demo, or reach out to our enterprise team at enterprise@oviahealth.com.

*Author’s note:

The privacy and security of personal health data — particularly data related to fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum health — is an issue that’s incredibly important to us. Ovia Health adheres to all applicable privacy and security laws and regulations, including HIPAA and GDPR. In addition, we are HITRUST-certified, fulfill our annual SOC 2 attestation report, and follow the same rigorous privacy and security regulations required by medical institutions. All of our research is supervised by Institutional Review Boards.