Irth

Solution Pitch

The Problem

Bias and racism in maternity care is pervasive and deadly. Black women are 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth related causes, with bias in care being a root cause. Yet, Black birthing people have no way of knowing how others like them experienced a doctor or hospital. Current solutions, such as anti-bias trainings, are not working and lack community-centered tracking and monitoring. 

The Solution

Irth, as in the word Birth but without the "B" for bias, is the first Yelp-like review and rating app for Black and brown women and birthing people to find and leave reviews of obstetricians and gynecologists, birthing hospitals and pediatricians. Irth leverages the power of crowd-sourced peer reviews to drive public accountability and transparency in the medical system. On the back end, qualitative reviews are turned into quantitative data and actionable insights for providers, hospitals and payers to provide more respectful and equitable care.

Market Opportunity

An independent investigation found that nearly all of the hospitals that rank in U.S. News & World Report’s Top 20 Honor Roll do not treat minority and low-income patients well. Every year hospitals spend $60 billion on healthcare management consulting, but little to none of that is accessing research or data based on the lived experiences of BIPOC in maternity and pediatric care.

In the US, Black and other people of color represent 46 percent of all U.S. births. Irth’s business-to-consume market targets hospitals and providers, looking for deeper patient experience insights from Black patients and actionable strategies to reduce bias in care and improve equitable outcomes. 

Organization Highlights

• Collaborated with the March of Dimes, which has a national grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to do anti-bias trainings in several hospitals across the U.S. In that partnership, Irth will serve as a community feedback mechanism for hospital work in two Southeast states.

• Won the NY Health Challenge at Hofstra University with the 3rd place prize package of $14,000 and the Community Impact Award of $5,000

Partnership Goals

Irth seeks:

• Greater outreach and connections to national maternal and child health organizations, national medical professional organizations, or hospital improvement organizations.

• Business expertise on best practices, model, and assets for Irth, testing its capacity to be a revenue-generating independent entity and its future potential for business growth.

• Development consulting regarding maternal health or Black maternal health to help identify funding opportunities, especially capacity-building opportunities.

• Improved internal infrastructure and organizational operations to scale.