In half of the counties in the U.S. women have no access to an obstetrician-gynecologist, according to a 2018 study published by the Association of American Medical Colleges. That amounts to more than 10 million women. In addition, 56% of the counties in America do not have a single nurse-midwife. This lack of pregnancy care often occurs among rural populations where people do not have the financial means to travel long distances for care. If you wonder why the U.S. maternal death rate ranks so low among developed countries, one major factor is lack of care.
The FDA recently cleared the Nuvo Group‘s Invu medical-grade remote pregnancy monitoring platform. Invu is available only by prescription. The platform consists of a wearable with multiple sensors that are worn on the mother’s belly and an algorithm that analyzes medical-grade data from the sensors. Invu’s key data points include uterine activity (UA), fetal heart rate (FHR), and maternal heart rate (MHR). The platform sends simplified data reports to the mother via a mobile app and medical data to the mother’s physician.
Invu is an inspiring example of a wearable with clinical-grade sensors combined with an algorithm-based platform that can remotely monitor a critical population. It provides support information to patients and actionable information to medical professionals.
