Pack Health Wins AHRQ Rural Post-Partum Mental Health Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., December 3, 2020 / Pack Health today announced they have won the Cross-Sectional Innovation to Improve Rural Postpartum Mental Health Challenge from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The winning program proposal focuses on using a digital health coaching solution to address post-partum depression in central Alabama.

According to the challenge website, “the purpose of this challenge is to elicit narratives and proposals regarding solutions to address postpartum mental health diagnosis and treatment in rural communities for AHRQ to share with healthcare systems, healthcare professionals, local and state policymakers, Federal partners, and the public. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to create solutions to support population mental health, especially mothers experiencing postpartum mental health issues.”

Challenge winners for the Program Proposal category were selected based on a variety of criteria. Community assessment, the potential for partnership, logic model, implementation plan, and evaluation metrics were weighted equally in the evaluation process. Evaluation of evidence of the community being located in a rural area and “category identification” were measured on a pass/fail basis.

Pack Health will build out an existing digital health coaching platform to focus on post-partum depression. The program combines person-to-person engagement with a National Health and Wellness Board Certified Health Advisor, along with digital delivery of evidence-based content via text message, email, or mobile application, based on the participant’s access and preference for communication.

“We’re very excited to win and get started on this challenge presented by AHRQ,” says Blakely O’Connor, Manager of Medical Affairs at Pack Health. “One in seven mothers experiences a postpartum mental health condition within 1 year of birth. We’re honored to be able to work towards a solution to support them.”

See the formal announcement of challenge winners here.