Women’s health app helps employers upgrade maternity benefits

“First and foremost employers want a healthy birth,” said Emily Sasser, special projects manager at the Northeast Business Group on Health, which offers employers in the region resources for managing employee benefits.

In their efforts to keep costs down at the point of birth, employers are working to direct women to quality providers who can help them reduce risks during pregnancy. They’re also becoming “laser-focused” on reducing C-sections, Sasser said.

Maven has worked to tap into these concerns. The app offers additional support to those at high risk for complications and dispenses information on C-section rates at local hospitals and facts about what constitutes a medically necessary C-section when a user is developing a birth plan, Ryder said.

Still, the company faces growing competition in the pregnancy-tracker market. “In the last three years, it’s really exploded,” Sasser said.