Neighborhood Health Plan Partners with Text4baby
Boston, MA - May 10, 2010 - To coincide with Mother's Day, Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) announced today that it is the first health plan in Massachusetts to become an Outreach Partner with text4baby, a free national program that sends regular health-related text messages to expectant mothers and mothers of infants. Text4baby is one component of NHP's Health Equity Initiative which seeks to close the gap in health disparities that exist among low-income and vulnerable populations in Massachusetts.
"The tex4baby program is an important step in responding to high infant mortality rates and premature births due to poor perinatal health," said Deborah C. Enos, President and CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan. "NHP did not hesitate to sign on as an Outreach Partner because we recognize the power of this program to be able to reach women at a critical time in their pregnancy, and affect simple behavioral changes that could have a significant impact on infant health and mortality."
Each year in the U.S., more than 500,000 babies are born prematurely, and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday.* In response to this national public health crisis, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) Coalition launched text4baby to help new mothers care for their health and give their babies the best possible start in life.
Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE in Spanish) receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby's date of birth. These messages focus on a variety of topics critical to maternal and child health, including birth defects prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health and safe sleep. Text4baby messages also connect women to prenatal and infant care services and other resources.
For more details on the Text4baby campaign, visit www.text4baby.org.
About Outreach Partners
The National HMHB Coalition is working with a broad range of partners to encourage the women they reach to take advantage of this free service. Outreach partners include state and local health departments, community health centers, WIC programs, health plans, retail partners, community organizations, major medical associations, and nonprofit organizations.
About Neighborhood Health Plan
Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) is a not-for-profit health insurer serving more than 200,000 members across Massachusetts, offering a wide array of competitive Medicaid and commercial products. Working in partnership with community health centers and other community-responsive providers, NHP focuses on offering members access to care from over 2,800 primary care physicians and over 10,400 specialists in over 300 primary care locations throughout Massachusetts. Central to Neighborhood Health Plan's mission, we place special emphasis on serving culturally diverse, traditionally underserved, and vulnerable populations.
*Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, et al. Births: Final data for 2003. National vital statistics reports; vol 54 no 2. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2005.