Report: Texas still ranks toward the bottom on reproductive care
Texas Public Radio | By Gabriella Alcorta-Solorio
Published July 26, 2024 at 9:16 AM CDT
A San Antonio based app called BobiHealth uses AI to enhance a safe pregnancy using evidence-based data from the user.
BobiHealth, Baby on Board Intelligence, collects data from the users’ symptoms they input and turns it around using machine AI to predict risks, like preeclampsia, blood clotting and mental health concerns.
CEO Dave Esra, a retired Army officer, said his wife was considered high-risk during her pregnancy, and after researching maternal health during the pandemic he realized there needed to be more of a focus on maternal health.
Esra studied how the COVID-19 vaccine would affect pregnancy, and he realized there was not much information or studies on maternal health. He said that’s a problem.
“When I was exposed to the staggering statistics of maternal health — it’s something like 800 women die every single day from maternal related issues, and 94% of those are avoidable,” Esra said. “This is insane to me.”
Also, once again, Texas found itself at the bottom ranks for women’s health according to a report by The Commonwealth Fund, a New York research institute. The institute’s report is a state scorecard tracking trends in women’s health while documenting how policy and legislation impacts women’s access to care.
Texas has one of the highest for maternal mortality, according to the report. Between 35 and 51 women died per 100,000 births between 2020 and 2022.
Laura Terrill, CEO of Planned Parenthood South Texas, said that though it’s disheartening, she was not surprised that Texas was at the bottom.
“Unfortunately, the anti-reproductive health legislators and the governor are preventing folks like Planned Parenthood [and the] critically important services that we provide from meeting the needs of our community,” Terrill said.
Data privacy
Since the overturning of Roe v Wade, widespread bans for abortion access swept the country. Reports surfaced of people deleting period tracker apps, due to the risk of the information being subpoenaed in the case of an abortion in a banned state.
Esra said he and his team discussed the concern of data privacy at length, and said their technology is unique in how it processes data.
When users input their data, the information stays on their phones and does not go to servers. Esra called them miniature models, and they are trained to compute the user’s device instead of a central location.
“The mini models that we deploy to the device will do the computer. What is sent back to us are mini models based on what is learned, not user data.” Esra said about data protection. “It will be impossible to identify personal information from the models that are sent back.”
Esra compared the technology to autocorrect AI on phones, it doesn’t leave the device.
The data being processed on the device means BobiHealth does not store or keep any of the users medical data. The technology is still in the works, and patents were approved, and they are in the works to issue the software, Esra added.
Still, some apps can still track location, and that information can be subpoenaed. In the case of a user being in an abortion clinic while using an app that tracks them, that information can be used against them in a case of an illegal abortion in some states.
Concern on access to care
Terrill said access to health care is a leading concern, and she wanted those to know Planned Parenthood is still there to provide the services they can.
“We’re really proud to have established limited primary care service lines,” Terrill said. “So hypertension and diabetes, management, as well as mental health support for depression and anxiety.”
Esra shared the same sentiment talking about his app and said sometimes women will reach the doctor’s office and not be believed.
“They can take their phone into the doctor, or they can print out the providers report [from the BobiHealth app] and show the provider,” Esra said. “We’re creating this very quick way for the provider to see way more information than they would get there in the clinic.”
The provider reports are not AI generated, he said. They are crafted by the trained medical staff behind the app.
Though the team has a medical team on their staff, consult with a physician before making any final medical decisions.