Sally Sapega for Penn Medicine News: “Around the time Zafman initiated her study, Kirstin Leitner, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at HUP, was already developing Healing at Home, a program to provide vital support for new moms at home, especially during the ‘fourth trimester’ or those first six weeks after birth. She originally created the program for new parents with uncomplicated routine births wanting to go home early, an effort she pursued with a team as part of an Innovation Accelerator project with the Center for Health Care Innovation. The program’s texting service — a chatbot — allowed them to still remain connected with their care providers. To make communication easier, its automated chatbot, named Penny, used ‘natural language processing,’ Leitner said. ‘That means patients can ask questions and receive answers in a natural way.'”
