UnitedHealth Group and the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta have partnered on a new mobile app that will offer postpartum support to new Black mothers and their children.
The app, called PM3, is an extension of UnitedHealth's existing partnership with Morehouse and was developed in collaboration with Georgia Tech, Emory University and Georgia State University, according to a March 14 news release.
The universities will then study the effectiveness of the app with support from Optum and use the information to educate mothers. Optum and UnitedHealthcare employees are also volunteering to raise awareness and recruit users for the new app.
"The United States should be the safest place in the world to give birth, and yet we're nowhere near it," UnitedHealth Group's Chief Medical Officer, Margaret-Mary Wilson, MD, said. "The rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in this country – especially for Black women – are a national health crisis we have an obligation to address from every angle."
From 2016 to 2020, the Black maternal mortality rate was 52 deaths per 100,000 live births, the highest of any group in the country. Hispanics have the lowest maternal mortality rate, with 13.4 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to a 2022 America's Health Rankings report from the United Health Foundation.