Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and Healthy Birth Day Partner to Expand Stillbirth Prevention Program in New York

Goal to Improve Birth Outcomes for New York Families

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is partnering with Healthy Birth Day, Inc. to expand the evidence-based Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program in Bronx, Kings, and Queens counties in New York state. The program aims to educate expectant parents about the importance of monitoring their baby’s movement in the third trimester of pregnancy. Research shows at least 1 in 4 stillbirths can be prevented when expectant parents are educated on the importance of getting to know their baby’s normal movement patterns starting at 28 weeks.

Today at Anthem’s New York City headquarters, a community Lunch & Learn was hosted to officially launch the New York portion of the $1,100,000 multi-state grant from Anthem to Healthy Birth Day.

Research shows a change in a baby’s movements can be the first or only sign a baby may be in distress. Count the Kicks teaches expectant parents a simple method for getting to know their baby’s normal movement patterns. The program has a free pregnancy app available in more than 20 languages in the iOS and Google Play app stores. This app provides a simple, non-invasive way to track their baby’s movement patterns every day in the third trimester. App users can see their kick-counting history, rate the strength of their baby’s movements, set daily reminders and have the ability to count for single babies and twins. The program also has a web-based counting platform and paper counting charts available to print from the Count the Kicks website.

After a few days of tracking movement, expectant parents will begin to see a pattern, a normal amount of time it takes their baby to get to 10 movements. If their baby’s “normal" changes during the third trimester, this could be a sign of potential problems and is an indication that the expectant parent should call their healthcare provider right away.

Through the partnership they hope to reach more moms like New Yorker Alexa Healey, who credits Count the Kicks with helping her son Dominic have a safe arrival. The Count the Kicks app helped Alexa get to know Dominic’s normal movement patterns and empowered her to speak up and get checked when she noticed a change in his movement.

After tests at the hospital showed Dominic was in distress, Alexa was sent for an emergency Cesarean section, where doctors discovered four blood clots and a placental abruption, which put the lives of both mom and baby at risk. “I can’t stress enough the importance of knowing your baby and knowing the movement,” she said. “You know your body best. You know your baby best. You are your biggest advocate. The importance of knowing the kicks and knowing the norm – I can’t stress it enough.”

Through this new two-year partnership with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, the Count the Kicks program will focus on community engagement through conferences and meetings with healthcare providers. Maternal health professionals in New York will also have access to order FREE at-a-glance educational materials (available at CountTheKicks.org) to help them have a conversation about fetal movement monitoring with expectant parents.

“Maternal Health is a critical component of the pillars that support our organization’s foundation,” said Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield HP’s President and CEO Dr. Mark Levy. “Further, we at Anthem have an unwavering dedication to eliminating health disparities and ensuring access to high-quality care for everyone.”

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and Count the Kicks will also work to address social determinants of health through a four-question survey for all expectant parents utilizing the free app. The questions focus on barriers to accessing resources and connect app users who are in need of additional assistance and support to free or reduced-cost resources in their local community. These resources include things like diaper banks, food banks, housing assistance, and more.

There are more than 21,000 babies born still every year. In the U.S. the annual number of stillbirths (defined as the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater during pregnancy) exceeds the top five leading causes of deaths among children aged 0-14 years combined, including unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, homicide, SIDS, and heart disease. Racial disparities persist, and a disproportionate number of babies are born still to Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian or Alaska Native families.

Count the Kicks is proven to improve birth outcomes for moms and babies. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published research that shows a more than 30% reduction in Iowa’s stillbirth rate in the first 10 years of the Count the Kicks stillbirth prevention program at a time when America’s stillbirth rate remained stagnant. Through this collaboration, Elevance Health Foundation is hoping to expand on the success the program has seen in Iowa. The Count the Kicks program hopes to reduce the stillbirth rate in Kentucky by 32% as they have seen in Iowa, which would save 104 babies every year.¹

In 2023, Elevance Health Foundation, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, partnered with Healthy Birth Day, Inc. to expand Count the Kicks education in seven states, reaching thousands of expectant parents and healthcare providers. This year, the partnership is expanding to focus on 10 states, including New York.

About Count the Kicks

Count the Kicks is a program of Healthy Birth Day, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of stillbirth. The free Count the Kicks app is available in 20+ languages in the Google Play and iOS app stores. The app has 600,000 app downloads and counting, including users in all 50 U.S. states and more than 140 other countries. We have appeared on Good Morning America, The Washington Post, Sunday Night Football, and in O Magazine, and produced a national PSA that has generated more than 300 million viewer impressions. Learn more about our vision to save 7,500 babies every year and improve birth outcomes everywhere at CountTheKicks.org.

About Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation

The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is a philanthropic arm of the Elevance Health Foundation. The Foundation works to address health equity by focusing on improving the health of the socially vulnerable through strategic partnerships and programs in our communities with an emphasis on maternal child health; mental health; and food as medicine. Additionally, the Foundation also responds to disasters when our communities need us the most. The Foundation coordinates the company’s year-round Dollars for Dollars program which provides a 100 percent match of associates’ donations, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross names and symbol are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. To learn more about the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and the Elevance Health Foundation, please visit https://www.elevancehealth.foundation/ and its blog at www.medium.com/elevancehealthfoundation.

¹Number based on 5-year average stillbirth rate, multiplied by the 32% reduction seen in Iowa. Stillbirth data is from CDC Wonder. Note stillbirth rate is calculated by: Fetal Deaths/Total of Live Births + Fetal Deaths*1,000.

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