Voxiva, Inc.(SM) announced today that text4baby(SM), a service which provides pregnant women and new moms with critical health information, has introduced a wide range of new interactive features and evidence-based educational content. Since launch in February 2010, Text4baby has enrolled more than 550,000 expectant and new moms, and is recognized as the nation's largest mobile health initiative.
Text4baby, developed by Voxiva in association with the National Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition, is offered as a free service in partnership with founding sponsor Johnson & Johnson, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation and Grey Healthcare Group. Pregnant women and new moms are able to receive free text messages with content timed to their due date or baby's birthday.
Text4baby subscribers can now access an interactive mobile website with educational content and informational videos covering topics from exercise during pregnancy to car seat safety. Content has been provided by partner organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the March of Dimes, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Subscribers are sent regular text messages with links to these resources so that the content is timed to the stage of their pregnancy or baby's development, and contains relevant and actionable information.
Text4baby also includes a wide range of additional interactive features. For example, subscribers can reply "MORE" to a message to learn more about a specific topic; they can "LIKE" a message, giving Voxiva feedback on the program; and respond to questions about their insurance status so that messages can be tailored according to their health coverage.
Additionally, text4baby subscribers can set reminders to receive text messages in advance of scheduled appointments with their doctors. In a California State University San Marcos National Latino Research Center and University of California, San Diego (CSUSM/UCSD) study, 65 percent of users reported that text4baby helped them remember an appointment or immunization that they or their child needed. The Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services (network of federally qualified health centers) found the percentage of missed appointments was lower among text4baby enrollees (N=917) compared to non-enrollees (N=1,647) when comparing the two patient populations at one point in time.
"Text4baby reaches hundreds of thousands of women with important pregnancy and baby care guidance, and these new features make the program even more personalized and relevant. We are really pleased that the program has gained such broad appeal and is having an impact on its users," says Voxiva CEO, Justin Sims.
Voxiva has a wide range of consumer health programs. Some are available free of charge to the public and others are available through health plans, helping them engage members and increase compliance with quality measures (HEDIS/EPSDT). In addition to text4baby, Voxiva's programs support child health (text4kids), healthy living (txt4health), smoking cessation (text2quit) and diabetes self-management (care4life).