Nuvo and Sheba Medical Centre collaboration brings AI into pregnancy care

An FDA-approved remote pregnancy monitoring platform has announced a collaboration agreement with Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre.

The Nuvo Group is the creator of INVU, a pregnancy monitoring and management system.

The first phase of its partnership with the Sheba Medical Centre consisted of a pilot programme around gestational diabetes management, in which medically necessary non-stress tests (NSTs) were shifted to home-based remote monitoring using INVU rather than conducting traditional monitoring in a physical medical facility.

A NST is a common prenatal test used to check on a baby’s health, during which the baby’s heart rate is monitored to see how it responds to the baby’s movements.

As part of the partnership, participating physicians prescribed INVU to expectant mothers, who wore the sensor band from home during virtual visits.

During these virtual visits anchored by the hospital’s Sheba BEYOND, virtual hospital platform, a live reading allowed the expectant mother to access data and insights via the INVU app, while the provider received more detailed foetal and maternal surveillance that OB/GYNs are accustomed to receiving during in-office visits.

The pilot programme also included the use of several other telemedicine solutions alongside INVU, including a remote ultrasound device, glucose monitoring, and home urinalysis kit.

In addition to offering a safe and proven regimen for managing gestational diabetes, the programme aimed to help patients and providers save time and improve the overall care experience.

For the next phase of the partnership, Nuvo and Sheba intend to work together to integrate the INVU platform into the hospital’s standard of care protocols, planning to utilise data collected from the pilot programme to develop new AI tools to advance pregnancy care management and lower costs.

“Our long term goal is to provide pregnant women with the best possible maternal-foetal surveillance wherever they are – in our clinics, at the comfort of their home or during their work day,” says Dr Avi Tsur, high-risk pregnancy expert and director of Sheba’s Women’s Health Innovation Center and Sheba BEYOND’s Obstetrics & Gynaecology Beyond tele-health platform.

“The INVU foetal monitoring solution has the potential to be a catalyst of transformative care in an area of medicine that has been lagging in innovation and new approaches for decades. I hope this pilot is only the beginning.”

Dr Galia Barkai, director of Sheba BEYOND, says : “Sheba Beyond is constantly adopting cutting-edge technologies, which are enabling patients to receive the best care in the comfort of their homes. This collaboration is yet another step towards our goal to bring high level, hospital care, to everyone, everywhere.”

Kelly Londy, CEO of Nuvo Group, says it is an honour to collaborate with Sheba.

She adds: “The INVU platform is particularly beneficial for high-risk pregnancies that would otherwise require frequent in-office visits, which we know can become burdensome on all sides.

“We look forward to the next phase of our partnership as we continue to work with Sheba to help deliver safe and reliable remote care to even more patients.”