Wyoming Medicaid launched a smartphone app for pregnant women last week in partnership with mobile health engagement platform developer Wildflower Health. The smartphone app will be a tool offered through the Wyoming Department of Health's program "WYhealth Get Plugged In", which is sponsored by Xerox.

Wildflower Health was also part of a Rock Health class, which had its demo day in February 2013.

The app, Due Date Plus, helps women keep track of their pregnancy with reminders, weekly ultrasound videos that show how the baby is supposed to look at each stage of the pregnancy, and daily advice. The app also helps women track their weight gain, look up symptoms, find out about health issues in pregnancy, and keep track of questions they want to discuss with their doctor. Women can get the app on iOS or Android devices.

If women have a more immediate question, the app is connected to a free 24-7 nurse line, so they can talk to WYhealth staff. Otherwise, they can look up a local Best Beginnings program, a community-based system of perinatal services. Only women who are in the Wyoming Medicaid program can get these additional features. A lite version exists for any woman to use the app, but this version does not have the nurse hotline.

More than 40 percent of Wyoming pregnancies are paid by Wyoming Medicaid, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.

“The Due Date Plus smartphone-based app will allow us to support pregnant women, while also helping reduce pregnancy complications like early delivery, low birth weight and C-sections and hospital re-admissions,” Dr. James Bush, Wyoming Medicaid medical director with the Wyoming Department of Health said in a statement. “These types of outcomes are not ideal for moms and babies, and they are also costly.”

Wildflower Health, which launched last year, also raised $1.7 million at the end of 2013 from KMG Capital Partners, Cambia Health and HealthTech Capital. The company also received $100,000 in seed funding from Rock Health at the end of 2012.