Announcing the WellCare Baby’s First Program, Supporting New Mothers in Nebraska!

WellCare of Nebraska, a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), announced the launch of its unique Baby’s First text messaging program for new mothers that provides immediate access to baby and postpartum health and wellness information. According to a recent survey by Google, new and expecting parents perform twice as many Internet searches as non-parents. Due to this demand for information, this platform now provides resources directly to users when they need it most.

WellCare is the only Medicaid plan in Nebraska to offer this innovative text messaging and cloud-based initiative, which is available at no cost to all new mothers in Nebraska to assist them from birth to 15 months postpartum. This mobile resource is made possible through a partnership between WellCare and GoMo Health.

With resources delivered via mobile phone, the “Baby’s First” program provides new mothers interactive support including connections to videos, questionnaires, resources, and rich content focused on child-rearing best practices such as child development and nurturing, daily care, vaccinations, and wellness visit reminders. These resources cover topics like breastfeeding, home safety, nutrition, developmental milestones, balancing the needs of a new baby with siblings as well as other family members, and more.

“Many new parents are overwhelmed due to all the changes a new baby brings, which can lead to questions regarding a baby’s health like ‘is this normal’ or ‘what do I do,’” said Dr. Stephen Lazoritz, medical director at WellCare of Nebraska. “This program will provide our members as well as the community answers to help give their babies the best possible start in life and to support good health.”

New mothers can sign up by texting BABY1 to 52046. They will then receive one to six text messages per week. By providing convenient healthy living and wellness support, the program aims to promote better health outcomes for participating mothers and their babies.

“For the ‘Baby’s First’ program, GoMo Health worked closely with the WellCare team to develop a state-of-the-art interactive program delivered via our Personal Concierge, integrated with the most up-to-date post-partum educational content for new parents,” said Alan Stern, vice president of healthcare solutions at GoMo Health. “This program will provide timely guidance for new parents while helping WellCare to build long-term relationships statewide.”

As of June 30, 2017, WellCare serves approximately 83,000 members in Nebraska, including 76,000 Medicaid members and 7,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members.