Reducing Disparities Using Telehealth Approaches for Postdelivery Preeclampsia Care
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CLINICAL OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY Volume 64, Number 2, 375–383 Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. Reducing Disparities Using Telehealth Approaches for Postdelivery Preeclampsia Care ADINA KERN-GOLDBERGER, MD, MPH, and ADI HIRSHBERG, MD Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Maternal Child Health Research Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Abstract: The management of hypertensive disease Key words: telehealth, telemedicine, mobile health, pre- of pregnancy presents an ongoing challenge after eclampsia, pregnancy-related hypertension, postpartum, patients are discharged from delivery hospitaliza- fourth trimester, maternal morbidity, racial disparity tions. Preeclampsia and other forms of postpartum hypertension increase the risk for severe maternal morbidity and mortality in the postpartum period, and both hypertension and its associated adverse events disproportionately affect black women. With its ability to transcend barriers to health care access, Racial Disparities in telemedicine can facilitate high-quality postpartum Postpartum Preeclampsia care delivery for preeclampsia management and thereby reduce racial disparities in obstetric care and outcomes. Here we discuss racial disparities in MATERNAL MORBIDITY IN THE preeclampsia and the challenge of providing equi- FOURTH TRIMESTER table postpartum preeclampsia care. We then de- Obstetric care during the postpartum period scribe the utility of novel telemedicine platforms —also coined the “fourth trimester”—re- and their application to combat these disparities in mains as essential as during the 3 trimesters preeclampsia care. of pregnancy. Many pregnancy complica- tions, including preeclampsia, hemorrhage, infection, and perinatal depression, can arise Correspondence: Adi Hirshberg, MD, Hospital of the specifically in the postpartum setting. Crit- University of Pennsylvania, 2nd Floor Silverstein Bldg, Philadelphia, PA. E-mail: adi.hirshberg@pennmedicine. ical postpartum decisions, such as those upenn.edu involving contraception and breastfeeding, The authors declare that they have nothing to disclose. can have meaningful lifelong repercussions. CLINICAL OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY / VOLUME 64 / NUMBER 2 / JUNE 2021 www.clinicalobgyn.com | 375 Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
376 Kern-Goldberger and Hirshberg As such, pregnancy research and obstetric postpartum clinic appointments.2 Fur- professional organizations have centralized thermore, these challenges are particu- the postpartum period as an opportunity to larly acute for women without childcare optimize both short-term and long-term assistance or who are struggling with maternal health. Comprehensive postpar- social or economic instability.3 tum care should involve chronic disease Understanding both the importance and management and routine health mainte- the unique challenges of postpartum care is nance, and surveillance and treatment of critical as trends in maternal morbidity pregnancy-specific diseases, all of which continue to rise with a concomitant in- have significant longitudinal implications crease in postpartum complications and for a woman’s health.1 hospital readmissions. Research has dem- Many obstetric complications have se- onstrated increased postpartum readmis- quelae of lifelong disease states—for ex- sion rates from 1.72% in 2004 to 2.16% in ample, preeclampsia and gestational 2011. These adverse events, many of which diabetes are associated with chronic hyper- are related to preeclampsia, disproportion- tension, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 ately affect publicly insured and black diabetes mellitus—and timely screening women, and women with baseline comor- and risk assessment in the postpartum bidities such as hypertension and diabetes.4 period could be advantageous for ultimate Efforts to reduce maternal morbidity are risk reduction. The postpartum care set- therefore evolving to specifically address ting is also a unique opportunity to opti- gaps in postpartum care with attention to mize preventive health with vaccination the risk factors and etiologies of postpar- and Pap smears, and to facilitate family tum complications and the patient groups planning and pregnancy spacing. All of at highest risk. this has ramifications for a woman’s gen- eral health and the health of any future POSTPARTUM PREECLAMPSIA pregnancies. Ultimately, assiduous post- Chronic hypertension and pregnancy-re- partum care truly lays the foundation for a lated hypertension remain significant con- woman’s healthy future. tributors to the overall burden of maternal However, traditional postpartum care, morbidity, and this persists in the post- which at a minimum involves an in- partum period as well. Postpartum onset person visit 4 to 6 weeks after delivery, preeclampsia, defined as a new diagnosis involves inherent barriers to accessing of preeclampsia between 2 days and 6 necessary health services. Most postpar- weeks postpartum, occurs most commonly tum patients have new infants at home in women with the same risk profile as requiring abundant care and attention, antepartum preeclampsia, including those and this may limit their ability to attend with chronic hypertension, obesity, and follow-up appointments or engage in advanced maternal age.5 As these risk other health promotion activities. Post- factors increase, preeclampsia incidence partum women may also be exhausted —both antepartum and postpartum—can from the physical strain of labor and be expected to increase in parallel. delivery and the erratic infant sleep sched- Hypertension manifesting in the post- ule, and they may be recovering from partum period may be a continuation of painful perineal trauma or cesarean sec- gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, tion. This may further limit their ability to worsening or persistent chronic hyper- participate in health care programs. For tension, or new postpartum preeclampsia. these reasons, compliance with traditional However, the majority of patients read- postpartum care is generally poor with mitted with postpartum hypertension very low documented show rates for are experiencing progression of already www.clinicalobgyn.com Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reducing Disparities Using Telehealth for Preeclampsia Care 377 diagnosed hypertensive disease rather hypertensive disorders, this should involve than new onset preeclampsia in the post- blood pressure monitoring during the first partum period, and are typically asymp- 72 hours postpartum followed by an addi- tomatic, necessitating careful blood tional blood pressure assessment at 7 to pressure monitoring even after hospital 10 days postpartum because of the in- discharge.6 creased risk of preeclampsia complications Hypertension is one of the most common in this time period, including strokes and etiologies of postpartum readmission, and seizures.11 Effective management of pree- women with pregnancy-associated hyperten- clampsia in the postpartum setting is ren- sion are at the highest risk.7 Reducing dered ever more crucial by the association hospital readmission is a quality improve- between preeclampsia and long-term car- ment imperative for all health care institu- diovascular disease. tions and is especially important in obstetrics, where maternal readmission to RACIAL DISPARITIES IN the hospital disrupts the care of a newborn PREECLAMPSIA infant. As pregnancy-related hospital admis- Significant racial disparities across many sion is the most frequently coded admission obstetric outcomes—including severe mor- diagnosis in the United States, understand- bidity and mortality—have been demon- ing patterns of readmission in order to strated between black and white women, improve health care utilization and quality many which cannot be attributed to base- has significant public health ramifications.8 line differences in socioeconomic status or In addition, studies of postpartum readmis- underlying comorbidities. Differential ac- sions have demonstrated disparities in dem- cess to care and implicit bias in the medical ographics, with readmitted patients more establishment have been posited as possible likely to be black, publicly insured, and have mechanisms, and many institutions and a lower income, and higher rates of organizations have prioritized efforts to comorbidities.9 Efforts to reduce postpartum alleviate these disparities.12 Black women complications and hospital readmission are are specifically at higher risk of preeclamp- therefore essential endeavors to promote sia and preeclampsia-related complications, women’s health in general and the health and longitudinal cardiovascular disease, and well-being of the most vulnerable which is a known downstream complica- groups of postpartum patients in particular. tion of preeclampsia.13 They are also at It is also critical that these strategies higher risk of preeclampsia-related hospital specifically target risk-reduction for post- readmission.14 Although prediction and partum hypertension complications. In prevention strategies for preeclampsia itself fact, ~50% of maternal morbidity and are limited, the disease burden of short- mortality takes place postpartum, one third term preeclampsia complications including of which occurs within the first week.10 stroke and acute renal failure, and long- This correlates with the time course of peak term complications such as cardiac disease blood pressures, which typically occur in may be attenuated with appropriate clinical the initial 3 to 6 days postpartum, usually care. For example, timely administration of after patients have already been discharged antihypertensive medication is associated from the hospital. Given the association of with a reduction in maternal stroke.15 adverse postpartum outcomes with hyper- Numerous studies have highlighted a tensive disease, the American College of racial disparity in the disease burden of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) preeclampsia. Gyamfi-Bannerman et al16 recommends careful blood pressure surveil- demonstrated that among women with lance in the postpartum setting. At a preeclampsia, non-Hispanic Black wom- minimum, for women with known en were more likely to experience severe www.clinicalobgyn.com Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
378 Kern-Goldberger and Hirshberg maternal morbidity and mortality than a postpartum follow-up appointment with non-Hispanic White women. Miller a women’s health provider and
Reducing Disparities Using Telehealth for Preeclampsia Care 379 the purpose of reporting results, manag- Telemedicine platforms designed for ing medications, and confirming medical specific aspects of postpartum care have appointments, among other uses. Current also been developed and found to be iterations of mobile phones are also re- effective. Research from other developed plete with direct-to-consumer health- countries has demonstrated patient and relates applications (apps), an industry provider satisfaction with telephone that is rapidly proliferating. The past and video conference-based consultations decade has seen robust development in in the postpartum period to facilitate the market of mobile applications for early hospital discharge and to support women’s health and pregnancy, repre- new mothers in the home setting.25 It is senting 7% of total “apps” in 2015.22 possible that routine postpartum care can These phenomena have recast the mobile be comprehensively retooled into teleme- telephone as an ideal tool for health care dicine platforms to increase access given delivery. The vast majority of US adults, historically poor rates of postpartum fol- especially those of reproductive age, own low-up in traditional settings. a cellular phone, and use those for text messaging. This pervasiveness enables HEALTH DISPARITIES AND text message-based care delivery models TELEMEDICINE to be convenient, economical, and patient- It is well-known that obstetric morbidity centered. disproportionately affects women with difficult access to care, including women TELEMEDICINE IN OBSTETRICS from minority racial and ethnic back- The utilization of telehealth and teleme- grounds and low socioeconomic status. dicine in obstetrics is becoming increas- Telemedicine possesses a unique ability to ingly widespread, improving access to transmit high-level care directly to pa- care and providing health information tients in their own environments, circum- for many women. Numerous such pro- venting the barriers and biases that can grams have been implemented with suc- otherwise inhibit quality care. For exam- cess across the country. For example, the ple, a study of the ANGELS obstetric “OB Nest” program at the Mayo Clinic is telemedicine program in Arkansas found a model of care for low-risk pregnant a significant decrease in the rate of very women involving self-monitoring tools, low birth weight infants of patients with a texting platform, and an online com- Medicaid insurance who delivered in hos- munity of other pregnant patients to share pitals without an appropriate neonatal experiences.23 Patients were provided intensive care unit.26 Telemedicine can with self-monitoring equipment and re- similarly serve as a powerful tool to ported that obtaining their own measure- alleviate other disparities in access to care ments without the inconvenience of for vulnerable populations. presenting to the clinic fostered increased confidence and a sense of control during TELEMEDICINE IN THE the pregnancy. The novel coronavirus MANAGEMENT OF POSTPARTUM (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated PREECLAMPSIA the adoption of telemedicine-based ob- Numerous mobile phone telemedicine stetric care to reduce the risk of exposure programs have been developed specifi- to the virus and facilitate social distanc- cally around the postpartum management ing. These programs have seen a rapid of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. uptake in hospital systems throughout the These have evolved to meet the need of country with models for routine and high- the many postpartum women requiring risk antenatal care.24 continued blood pressure monitoring www.clinicalobgyn.com Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
380 Kern-Goldberger and Hirshberg after discharge from the hospital, to blood pressure check in the clinic during reduce morbidity related to underman- the first week postpartum) versus Heart aged postpartum preeclampsia, and to Safe Motherhood, a 2-week test message- prevent hospital readmissions. They also based surveillance program (see example specifically address the problem of incon- in Fig. 1), and found a significantly higher sistent postpartum outpatient follow-up, rate of follow-up, defined as having a which can be critical and time-sensitive in recorded blood pressure in the medical the setting of hypertensive disorders of record within the first 10 days postpartum. pregnancy. As dangerous blood pressure elevations are often asymptomatic, com- REDUCING DISPARITIES IN pliance with ACOG’s recommended sur- POSTPARTUM PREECLAMPSIA WITH veillance is essential. And as hospital TELEMEDICINE readmission is extremely disruptive to As discussed above, Heart Safe Mother- the mother-baby unit in the postpartum hood is the postpartum text message-based period, an innovative approach to in- creasing access to blood pressure surveil- lance and management for this patient population is essential. Numerous studies have examined the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical out- comes of remote blood pressure monitor- ing programs for postpartum women. Hauspurg et al27 evaluated a quality im- provement project designed for women admitted to the postpartum unit of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital) with a diagnosis of pregnancy-specific or chronic hypertension and involving a text messaged-based blood pressure monitor- ing program. The study found high rates of patient engagement, retention, and satis- faction with the program, and 88% com- pliance with the recommended 6-week postpartum office visit. The Blood Pres- sure Self-Monitoring in Pregnancy obser- vational study in the United Kingdom collected qualitative data suggesting that self-monitoring of blood pressure in preg- nancy is acceptable and feasible for wom- en and that participating in a remote monitoring program increased awareness of the risks of preeclampsia.28 It also promoted patient empowerment and in- creased reassurance. Hirshberg et al29 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsyl- vania (HUP) randomized 206 postpartum patients with pregnancy-related hyperten- FIGURE 1. Example of patient text message interface for Heart Safe Motherhood. sion to routine care (involving an in-person www.clinicalobgyn.com Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reducing Disparities Using Telehealth for Preeclampsia Care 381 FIGURE 2. Postpartum blood pressure attainment by race. Adapted from Hirshberg et al.29 Adaptations are themselves works protected by copyright. So in order to publish this adaptation, authorization must be obtained both from the owner of the copyright in the original work and from the owner of copyright in the translation or adaptation. blood pressure surveillance program for non-Black and Black women was > 90% women with hypertension in pregnancy at (Fig. 2). This represents a 50% reduction in the HUP. Implementation of this program racial disparity (risk ratio 0.51, 95% con- improved blood pressure control, reduced fidence interval, 0.33-0.78). No women in readmissions, and improved patient and the telemedicine arm required hospital provider satisfaction.30 Institutional data readmission compared with 4 in the con- from HUP demonstrated that non-Black trol arm, 3 of whom were black. women are twice as likely to return for an These data demonstrate that the use of a in-person blood pressure check shortly text message-based monitoring system re- after discharge compared with black wom- sulted in significantly higher compliance en (42.5% vs 24.1% attendance rate, re- among all women with no differences in spectively).30 To test the impact of a blood pressure capture by race as was telemedicine-based follow-up program on observed with usual care. When imple- postpartum blood pressure management, mented at another institution within the women were randomized in a controlled same health system, blood pressure ascer- trial to either 2 weeks of twice daily text tainment among Black and non-Black message-based blood pressure surveillance women was again similar through use of with home monitoring (Heart Safe Moth- the program, suggesting that reduction of erhood) or traditional care with an in- racial disparities may be generalizable with person office visit for blood pressure the implementation of similar remote monitoring 4 to 6 days after discharge. monitoring interventions.31 Of 206 women in the trial, non-Black Given the slower decline in blood pres- women in the traditional management arm sure among black women with hypertensive had 70% compliance with care, compared disorders of pregnancy compared with non- with 33% of Black women. In the tele- Black women, opportunities to reduce medicine group, however, the rate of blood disparities in postpartum care have the pressure measurement attainment in both potential to improve both short-term and www.clinicalobgyn.com Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
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