Maven Clinic launched a research institute on Thursday to rally further research and collaboration in digital health.
The Clinical Research Institute is based on what Maven claims is the largest public evidence base measuring the impact of virtual care on women’s and family health. Maven has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications. A clinical research team, including Maven’s chief medical officer, is part of the center and driving its research and collaborations with partners.
The goal is to serve as a platform for partnerships across academia and industry while expanding the scope of women’s and family health research. Current and past research partners include Harvard Medical School, Brown University, Posterity and OURA, with additional studies planned.
The Institute also advances research through Maven's Visiting Scientist program. Visiting Scientists work part-time with Maven for up to one year, contributing to research that informs care delivery and helps translate evidence into practice.
Telehealth use exploded during COVID-19, with more than a third of adults and 87% of physicians using it in 2021. Yet tracking what’s working well and what isn’t has not kept pace with adoption, Maven executives said. The research center hopes to inform best practices in digital health, supporting stakeholders’ understanding of what quality and effectiveness look like.
“Digital health went from being an abstraction to everywhere,” Neel Shah, Maven’s chief medical officer, told Fierce Healthcare. From wearables to chatbots to ambient scribes, digital is moving at a breakneck pace. And while Shah believes it has as much potential to improve health as drugs and devices, “it should be getting the same level of rigor and scrutiny” as those subsectors do.
While “outcomes are outcomes” no matter the healthcare delivery setting, Shah acknowledged, “the processes and the structures are different.” In the brick-and-mortar space, for example, timeliness of care is a key part of quality assessment. And it can be hard to achieve. In digital health, Shah noted, quick access is much more feasible. So digital health companies should be held to a different standard. Studying valuable interventions is what helps them scale and become sustainable long-term, Shah added.
“There is an aspiration here to elevate and create better standards in digital health,” Shah said, “because it benefits the entire industry and also the people we’re trying to serve. ... We’re living in a world where we have a lot of data, but we don’t have a lot of clarity.”
Maven also published its first Clinical Impact Report on Thursday, with the goal of making it a more regular publication. The report, with a focus on health equity impact, consolidates high-level outcomes Maven has previously published in one place.
For example, Black members who met with a Maven doula online at least twice had a 56% lower risk of c-section, according to the Maven data. Members preferring a language other than English show reduced NICU admissions, from 4% for Spanish speakers to 12% for Hindi speakers and 56% for Mandarin speakers. Meanwhile, the number of LGBTQ+ members reporting not having depression between the start and end of their program increased from 45% to 65%. Each avoided NICU stay saves an average of $70,000 per infant, according to Maven, and vaginal birth instead of c-section saves $11,500 per delivery.
Maven has over 600 providers on its platform with over 30 specialties represented. Four in 10 of Maven providers identify as a race other than white or multi-racial. Maven offers 9,000 appointments weekly, available at any time of day. Maven was among nine non-health plans to receive NCQA’s health equity accreditation in 2024. This recognized the rigor of Maven’s clinical model, per Shah.