What is the name of your organization?
SmartBody LLC
What is the name of your solution?
CrossCare
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
We are your 24/7 Digital Doula
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
New Jersey, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, rising from 17.4 per 100,000 live births in 2018 to 22.3 in 2022. Black (non-Hispanic) women face an even more alarming rate of 69.9 per 100,000 in 2021, driven by systemic racism, socioeconomic barriers, and inequities in healthcare access and quality. Factors like racial bias, poor provider communication, limited transportation, and chronic stress from discrimination contribute to delayed care, poor outcomes, and deep-rooted distrust in the healthcare system
What is your solution?
To address these challenges, technology offers a powerful solution. The proposed maternal health app collects and analyzes data from wearables, home monitors, and manual inputs to create a full picture of the user’s health. With features like personalized education, early complication detection, EHR integration, and AI-powered predictive analytics, the app improves care coordination, provider response, and patient engagement. Culturally relevant content and tools like appointment reminders and behavior tracking help Black women stay connected to care and actively manage their health.
A core feature—the AI-driven “Digital Doula”—offers 24/7 emotional support, sentiment analysis, and real-time alerts to providers when distress is detected. By integrating clinical data with social and environmental inputs, the app delivers holistic, equity-focused care. On a broader scale, the data collected supports provider training, informs health policy, and drives systemic change. While designed with the most vulnerable in mind, the app has the potential to improve outcomes for all women by promoting personalized, equitable maternal care
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The target population for this innovation is pregnant individuals from medically underserved communities, particularly Black and Latina women receiving prenatal care at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in underserved areas. These women are disproportionately impacted by the highest maternal mortality rates in the United States, driven by a combination of chronic health conditions, limited access to quality care, systemic racism, and social determinants of health such as poverty, food insecurity, housing instability, and environmental stressors. This app directly addresses gaps in knowledge and care by giving pregnant individuals a culturally responsive, easy-to-use digital tool that enables symptom tracking, personalized health education, mental health support through an AI-powered “Digital Doula” chatbot, and secure data sharing with healthcare providers. The app collects and interprets clinical and non-clinical data (including wearables and social factors), alerts providers to early warning signs. The app empowers users with timely information and tools to advocate for themselves, while giving care teams greater insight into the patient’s full health picture.
