Sentara Healthcare Chooses Wellpepper for Mobile Patient Engagement in Headache Care

SEATTLE, Nov. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellpepper, Inc. today announced that Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare is partnering with Wellpepper to provide a mobile patient engagement solution for headache care. Wellpepper is a clinically validated patient engagement platform. Sentara is an integrated not-for-profit system of 12 hospitals and more than 100 sites of care, including a robust neurosciences program. Sentara patients who suffer from migraines and other severe headaches are able to use the Wellpepper mobile application to report their headache experiences in real time, including pain, triggers and use of over-the-counter or prescription medication. Sentara Neurologists are able to use the information collected to diagnose, treat and monitor the ongoing progress of headache patients with the goal of better outcomes, fewer office visits and lower healthcare costs.

"We believe Wellpepper can help us provide timely care for headache patients," said Alexander Grunsfeld, MD, medical director for Sentara Neurosciences. "Sentara encourages patients to be partners with us in their care and the Wellpepper solution offers a new opportunity to achieve that goal."

Currently, when patients are referred to a neurologist, they are asked to complete surveys and try to remember what triggered their headaches. Follow-up surveys are typically given every 3-6 months. The result is often multiple office visits and patient care is delayed until the root causes for headaches are eventually discovered.

Data collected through the Wellpepper application is presented to healthcare providers via a clinical dashboard. Neurologists can easily communicate with headache patients to alter treatment plans without the patient having to unnecessarily visit the office. Wellpepper also provides a way for patients to log pain levels using the visual analog pain scale and to record medication use and how much.

"Too often, data collection from patients is disconnected from their care plan," said Anne Weiler, co-founder and CEO of Wellpepper. "Being able to use patients' own smartphones and tablets to provide care plans and show results using Wellpepper is not only a way to help drive patient engagement, it is a way for healthcare providers to gather strong, real-time data and patient-reported outcomes in a way that after-the-fact surveys cannot."

Approximately 18 percent of women and 6 percent of men between the ages of 12 and 80 suffer from migraines in the U.S. According to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, migraine cases require, on average, 2.3 more physician office visits than non-migraine controls (9.1 vs 6.8, respectively) and were significantly more likely to have been seen in an emergency department (20.7% vs 17.6%) or admitted to a hospital (4.5% vs 2.8%).

For more information about Wellpepper or to find out how the Wellpepper patient engagement solution can support value-based payment models, please visit www.wellpepper.com or email [email protected].

For information on the Sentara Neurosciences program, visit www.sentara.com/neuro   

About Sentara Healthcare
Sentara Healthcare, based in Norfolk, VA, celebrates a 127 year history of innovation, compassion and community benefit.  Sentara is a not-for-profit family of 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, the Optima Health Plan, a full array of integrated services and a team 30,000 strong on a mission to improve health every day.  This mandate is pursued through a disciplined strategy to achieve Top 10% performance in key clinical measures through shared best practices, transformation of primary care and strategic growth that adds tangible value to the communities we serve. www.sentara.com   

About Wellpepper 
Wellpepper is a healthcare technology company that provides a clinically validated platform for digital treatment plans delivered via mobile devices. The Wellpepper patient engagement solution improves patient adherence and outcomes with its patent-pending adaptive notification system and just-in-time, task-based instructions and by fostering communication between healthcare providers and patients. Wellpepper is used by major health systems that are moving to an accountable care organization model and need to track and improve patient outcomes while lowering costs. Wellpepper was founded in 2012 to help healthcare organizations lower costs, improve outcomes and improve patient satisfaction. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. 

SOURCE Wellpepper