2015 State Enrollment Contest Winners
Press Release November 2, 2015
Contest links over 58,000 moms to Text4baby health and safety information
Virginia, Oklahoma and South Dakota win 2015 Text4baby State Enrollment Contest, connecting highest number of new moms to service
WASHINGTON (November 2, 2015) – Results from the 2015 Annual Text4baby State Enrollment Contest are in, and Virginia, Oklahoma and South Dakota led the nation in getting critical free health and safety information to new mothers.
The annual contest is a competition between states to encourage new mothers to subscribe to Text4baby, the nation’s largest and only free mobile health service promoting maternal and child health for pregnant women and mothers with infants under age 1 through text messaging and a mobile app. Virginia, Oklahoma and South Dakota brought on a combined 7,474 expectant and new mothers to the Text4baby service. Over 58,600 moms across the country enrolled in the service during the contest period.
“In calendar year 2014, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority covered about 60 percent of all births in the state. We are in a position to make a difference in the health outcomes for expectant moms and newborns in Oklahoma," said OHCA CEO Nico Gomez. "Leveraging technology such as the Text4baby initiative allows us to more effectively communicate with our members and ensure they are connected to local resources to support their health.”
Text4baby is jointly operated by ZERO TO THREE and Voxiva, Inc. Throughout the contest, Text4baby outreach partners implemented creative strategies for sharing information about the service with women in their communities. The winning states spread the word about Text4baby through WIC clinics, home visiting programs, hospitals, media efforts, social media, conferences, community events and by offering Text4baby as a Medicaid benefit.
State Enrollment Contest winners were determined based on tracking the numbers of new participants who enrolled in the service during the contest period as a percentage of eligible moms. States/territories were separated into three categories – large, medium and small - based on their estimated number of new pregnancies and new infants. As the contest progressed, Text4baby partners regularly monitored their progress by accessing subscriber enrollment data by zip code through the Text4baby website.
The contest winners were announced and honored during the Martha May Eliot Luncheon on November 2 at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Chicago. The event is the nation’s largest public health meeting.
About the winning states:
Large State Category: Virginia
Virginia has been a strong advocate of Text4baby since the program launched. A coalition of Virginia Text4baby partners from various state agencies joined together to promote the service and their interest was invigorated by Text4baby’s inclusion in Virginia Department of Health’s Infant Mortality Strategic Plan and participation in the Collaborative Innovation Network (COIN) initiative. The Department of Health customized the Text4baby service by including state-specific resources within the messages, as well as sharing monthly ad-hoc messages on topics of interest including prevention of child abuse, smoking cessation and more. Virginia Premier also partnered and promoted the service by providing free cell phones and connecting several hundred members to Text4baby. Read the full case study.
Medium State Category: Oklahoma
Thanks to the innovation of partners in Oklahoma, the state currently has the highest rate of enrollment for Text4baby in the country. Oklahoma Health Care Authority has been integrating Text4baby enrollment into its outreach and enrollment efforts with pregnant women and caretakers of infants, including implementing an automatic notification process via text message for members to easily opt-in to receive Text4baby messages. Since this process began, more than 10,000 SoonerCare members have opted to enroll through this process. Additionally, state partners have continued to reach moms with the service through a variety of media and advertisement outlets, during prenatal and pediatric appointments, in birthing hospitals, in WIC clinics, in faith-based organizations and through community outreach events. Sixty-five organizations in Oklahoma have partnered with Text4baby to help reach pregnant women and families with critical health and development information, including the OHCA, Oklahoma State Health Department, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, hospitals, and local health departments. Read the full case study.
Small State Category: South Dakota
Throughout the competition, South Dakota consistently held one of the top spots of Text4baby enrollment among the small states. Led by the South Dakota Department of Health, moms are primarily enrolled through targeted promotional strategies by the State WIC and Bright Start Home Visiting programs. Resource folders including Text4baby materials have also been available at SDDOH for public health nurses and staff eager to make contact and share more information about the service with local providers across the state. Recently the service was promoted at the annual South Dakota Perinatal Association conference in September and at many other community events. Read the full case study.
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About ZERO TO THREE
ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit that provides parents, professionals and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture development. Founded in 1977, ZERO TO THREE is a leader in the field of infants, toddlers and families – reaching more than 2 million parents each year. The organization brings together experts on parenting, child behavior and development, care and education, and public policymakers to help ensure every child from birth to three years old gets a strong start in life. For more information, please visit zerotothree.org or follow us on Twitter at @ZEROTOTHREE.
About Voxiva
A pioneer of the digital health industry since 2001, Voxiva’s proven population health programs reach and engage individuals at large scale to improve their health, and deliver cost and quality improvement results for clients. Voxiva’s programs combine evidence-based health content, deep behavior change expertise and state-of-the-art digital tools to reach, engage, educate and support users. Numerous published research studies have demonstrated Voxiva’s positive impact on maternal health (Text4baby), diabetes (Care4life), smoking cessation (Text2quit) and member engagement (Connect4health). Working with health providers, state Medicaid agencies, and over 25 large health plan clients, Voxiva’s programs have enrolled more than 1.5 million people and interacted with them more than 200 million times. Learn more at www.voxiva.com.
About Text4baby
Text4baby, the nation’s only free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health through text messaging, has enrolled over 930,000 pregnant women and new mothers. A free service of ZERO TO THREE and Voxiva, Text4baby is made possible through a broad public-private partnership including The Wireless Foundation, Grey Healthcare Group, the US Department of Health and Human Services and over 1,300 national, state and local organizations. Text4baby messages are free thanks to the generous support of AT&T, Bluegrass Cellular, Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile U.S.A. To learn more, visit www.text4baby.org.