PROVIDENCE – Women & Infants Hospital recently announced a five-year partnership with UTMHealthcare LLC to advance the Rhode Island-Statewide Postpartum HypErtension REmote Surveillance, or RI-SPHERES, project.
The Hypertension Equity Program at Women & Infants Hospital has been reducing maternal morbidity and hospital readmissions since November 2022. It has also helped improve health equity for patients with hypertension. The program provides patients with blood pressure cuffs, and the hospital’s team educates patients on how to take their blood pressure at home.
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Now the program is expanding with a grant from the National Institutes of Health and the partnership with UTMHealthcare.
The partnership has three goals:
- Enhance maternal health: Leveraging technology to deliver proactive care and address hypertension-related risks during the critical postpartum period.
- Eliminate disparities: Expanding access to care for vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by postpartum hypertension.
- Scalable implementation: Creating a model that can be replicated in other states, advancing the field of maternal health on a national scale.
RI-SPHERES integrates UTMHealthcare’s remote patient monitoring technology to enable remote blood pressure monitoring for postpartum patients. It will be offered in both app-based and app-less experiences. This allows participants to use Bluetooth-enabled or LTE-connected devices, allowing accessibility regardless of whether a patient has a smartphone.
“Thanks to the Hypertension Equity Program, we have already successfully kept hundreds of patients out of postpartum clinics or emergency departments simply by giving them the tools to monitor their health at home,” said Dr. Methodius G. Tuuli, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Women & Infants Hospital and executive chief of obstetrics and gynecology for Care New England Health System. “By expanding this statewide, we will be able to further eliminate disparities in maternal health and reduce both short- and long-term complications for postpartum patients, creating a healthier future for families across the state.”
The tools will provide real-time insights to care managers and clinicians, allowing for immediate interventions when necessary and referrals for long-term care.
“Our collaboration with Care New England brings cutting-edge technology and compassionate care together to address this critical issue, supporting healthier outcomes for families across Rhode Island,” said Seth Lachterman, a partner and co-founder of UTMHealthcare and its parent company, YouThisMe.
Dr. Adam Lewkowitz, principal investigator for RI-SPHERES and assistant professor in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Women & Infants Hospital, emphasized the importance of the program.
“By combining advanced remote monitoring technologies with a comprehensive care model, we can better address the unique challenges of postpartum hypertension,” Lewkowitz said. “This partnership allows us to provide personalized care to patients in their homes, breaking down barriers to access and improving health outcomes for some of our most vulnerable populations.”
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
