This year has been full of growth and evolution for emocha.

We’ve expanded our work in medication non-adherence, and helped respond to the COVID-19 pandemic: delivering a remote symptoms monitoring service, and supporting public health departments by augmenting their contact tracing efforts. emocha is proud to serve alongside the frontline healthcare professionals who work tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy. 

 

The following highlight our top achievements this year:

Validated Results in Pediatric Asthma

Preliminary data from our pediatric asthma program suggests improved asthma control among participants, a reduction in asthma-related ER visits, and fewer oral steroid prescriptions. Our Digital Medication Adherence Program for adult asthma is also being utilized by 2 health plans and 1 severe asthma clinic, and we are embarking on a new partnership with the American Lung Association. We were also featured in several news clips about asthma in Baltimore, including an interview with one of our pediatric asthma program participants on WMAR-2 News. Learn more about our asthma program here.

Awarded $1.7M NIH Grant for Transplant research

Based on our successes in Phase I, we moved on to Phase II of our grant-funded work with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, an institute within the National Institutes of Health, supporting liver and kidney transplant recipients in immunosuppressant medication adherence. Learn more about our transplant program here.

Diabetes Pilot Expands to Add Asthma and Hypertension

Concluded successful pilot with University of Maryland Health Plans, a Medicaid health plan, and expanded the program from diabetes to include asthma and hypertension. Over the course of the pilot, emocha observed 1,524 directly observed video check-ins, detected and addressed 260 adherence challenges, reduced ED visits by 50%, and ended with an average adherence rate of 86%. We co-presented the results at AHIP’s 2020 Consumer Experience & Digital Health Forum with Stephanie Selby, RN, RBLP-T, VP/Clinical Operations Officer, Population Health for University of Maryland Medical System. Learn more about our work with health plans here.

COVID-19 Response: Symptoms Monitoring, Clinical Triage Service, and Contact Tracing Support

As for so many, the pandemic presented us with unprecedented challenges. We are proud of our team’s ability to rapidly scale our COVID-19 symptoms monitoring and clinical triage service, enabling employees, staff, and students to more safely return to the workplace & schools, and have recently built a method to document testing and track vaccinations through the platform. We are additionally supporting public health departments with contact tracing and symptoms monitoring. It’s a unique opportunity to assist in bringing people back to school and the workplace, and help ensure that students, faculty, and employees feel safer. 

Launched New Engagement Platform

We launched an upgraded platform with enhanced video review and analytics, smart messaging, appointment scheduling, and additional soon-to-be-released features. These features make it easier for our clients to stay in touch with their patients, provide additional options for communication, and deliver a more in-depth visualization of how individual patients and the overall population performs over time.

Received Recognition from Tuberculosis Leaders Across the Country

The National Tuberculosis Controllers Association awarded emocha the Joe Ware Partner Service Award — only the second time a vendor has ever received this recognition — for our work with over 450 public health departments across the globe. emocha’s video Directly Observed Therapy platform has become the standard of care for TB treatment, shifting the burden of in-person care delivery. This gives both patients and providers a more convenient way to communicate and offers comparable results to in-person Directly Observed Therapy. 

Two of our partners were also recognized by NTCA. Jason Cummins, MPH, Program Manager and Senior Epidemiologist of the Tennessee Tuberculosis Elimination Program, and Dr. Maunank Shah, MD, PhD Medical Director of the Baltimore City TB program received TB Controller of the Year and the Robert Koch Award for clinical research, respectively. We are proud to partner with so many impressive healthcare workers and clinician-scientists whose work is changing the way we treat and manage patient health.

Security & Privacy Award

We were recently recognized by Ostendio, a company that works with online data security, for being one of the consistently top-ranked companies in their network. Receiving the fifth annual MyVCM Trust Network Award validates our dedication to the privacy and security of our clients, patient data, and risk management and reinforces that we are HIPAA compliant to ensure the safety/security of our patients’ personal health information.

Customer Recognition: Diabetes Education & Case Management

Our partners at Denton County Public Health received recognition from the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) Model Practice Program as a 2020 National Promising Practice for their Diabetes Education and Case Management program. “Promising Practices have demonstrated exciting approaches and strategies to local public health issues that are on track to becoming Model Practices, NACCHO’s highest recognition for replicable and exemplary programs.” Denton is the first public health department to use emocha’s video Directly Observed Therapy to support their diabetes patients.

Customer Recognition: HIV Study Published

Johns Hopkins University researchers published the COMBIND study, highlighting emocha’s work as one of the earliest mobile health interventions: working to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in India through engagement, support, and education. 

Launched Weekly Customer Support Webinars

We’ve launched our weekly Customer Support webinars to review new features, discuss product enhancements, offer Spanish language trainings, and give customers consistent access to live-support and training. These webinars give our customers weekly opportunities to give us feedback and share their needs and concerns. We are always looking for ways to improve, and our customers serve as the best source of ideas.