A new project in Illinois aims to connect at risk mothers-to-be with a remote patient monitoring platform that includes a Fitbit, a phone, and an AI assistant named Nurse Avery.
Google and digital health company Drive Health are launching a remote patient monitoring project in rural Illinois to connect expectant mothers with an AI bot to guide them through their pregnancy.
In a partnership with state officials, selected women in Cook County will receive Google Pixel phones, Fitbit devices and access to the Google Cloud to connect with Nurse Avery, an agentic AI health assistant developed by Drive Health. The Healthy Baby program is expected to engage more than 56,000 women over the next few years.
"The Healthy Baby pilot represents a critical step in maternal healthcare, showing how AI can help deliver personalized, proactive health support directly to underserved mothers,” Chris Hein, field chief technology officer for Google’s Public Sector division, said in a press release. “Using the AI agent, Nurse Avery, and delivering it through Google Pixel phones and Fitbit devices, the program provides real-time support – managing appointments, monitoring vitals, and offering health guidance directly, aiming to make essential resources more readily available.”
The program isn’t entirely unique. Health systems and state health departments have been trying to use telehealth and digital health for years to connect with at-risk mothers-to-be and monitor them up to and through childbirth. They’re driven by maternal mortality rates that place the U.S. well down the list, among developing nations.
In Illinois, that problem is acute. Roughly one-third of all counties in the state struggle with access to maternal care providers, and more than 90% of hospitals lack adequate mental health resources. Among Medicaid populations nationally, 40% of pregnant women have an undiagnosed or untreated mental health concern.
The Health Baby project takes a multi-pronged approach to connecting with at-risk women. The Fitbit device will be used to track participants’ activity as well as monitoring heart and sleep data. That information will be collected on Drive Health’s platform on participants’ Google Pixel phone, from which they can access personalized health recommendations – and Nurse Avery.
This is where digital health outreach meets AI, offering participants are more personal, interactive platform. According to Drive Health executives, Nurse Avery bridges “the gap between providers and patients,” answering questions, prompting care plan adherence and providing information on a variety of health concerns, including nutritional support and folic acid intake coordination, vaccination updates, genetic risk assessment, mental health and stress management, and chronic disease management.
As with any RPM program, the key to success will lie in patient engagement. Will expectant mothers be comfortable with using the devices and interacting with an AI assistant? And will the state see improvements in maternal health outcomes as a result? According to officials, they’ll be looking for reduced mortality rates, improved birth weight and more full-term pregnancies, as well as reduced costs tied to better access to timely care.
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The U.S. is still far down the list on maternal mortality, with expectant at-risk mothers facing a wide range of barriers to accessing timely care.
Google and digital health company Drive Health are partnering with Illinois officials to launch an RPM program targeted at at-risk expectant mothers.
The platform includes a smartphone, a Fitbit, and access to a Google cloud platform that connects the user to ‘Nurse Avery,’ an AI assistant that can answer questions and guide users to healthcare resources.