How Oath Improves Our Micro and Macro Worlds: Portfolios of Population Health Framework
As humans, we naturally care about our inner circles. Our personal micro-community consists of our family, friends, school, work, place of worship, and other tight-knit aspects of our day-to-day lives. At Oath, we address health within these individual micro-worlds; however, we are also reshaping health more broadly to tend to our macro worlds. Oath simultaneously applies to both your micro and macro worlds through positively influencing health via various small- and large-scale interrelated pathways.
The Portfolios of Population Health Framework developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) views health through four interconnected areas. Central to this framework is the belief that health is a process driven by equity—the belief that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy by removing obstacles to health and access to care.
The four portfolios are divided across two domains, population management and community well-being creation; the former domain includes physical and mental health and social and spiritual well-being measures, while the latter involves community health and well-being and communities of solutions programs. The goal of this framework is to identify focus areas that drive increases in positive health outcomes, in turn, meaningfully improving overall population well-being.
At Oath Care, our communal health model allows us to actively influence population health in each of these four portfolios. Oath believes healthcare is dependent on an interconnected community, so it fosters intimate connections and increases accessibility to care for all going through the fertility, pregnancy, and pediatric journey.
This connection and support are especially crucial in a time when parents often experience marginalization as they enter parenthood. Therefore, Oath is changing the way we pursue health— by providing care that aligns with the socially intertwined human experience, focusing on connection, community, and accessible specialists. Parent support is child support, and Oath allows both parties to thrive.
Population Management
Physical and Mental Health
Oath works in the portfolio of physical and mental health by proactively addressing these areas of health concerns for its members. Oath offers multidisciplinary care, including access to an intimate community circle composed of a specifically matched community of parents, a trained facilitator who fosters a safe and supportive space for conversations, and a network of health specialists with a myriad of specialties.
The facilitators themselves provide exemplary role models for parents, but even they can turn to specialists to bestow clinical advice from their area of expertise when necessary. This specialist advice given in the circles often answers many of the general health concerns of parents. Moreover, parents may also book one-on-one sessions with practitioners, so they can receive more in-depth and direct guidance on issues specifically relevant to their parenthood questions and journey. By maintaining this diverse network of clinical providers and specialists, Oath improves access to quality clinical care.
Oath’s specialist network includes marriage and family therapists, fertility navigators, embryologists, pelvic floor specialists, dietitians, lactation consultants, physical therapists, psychologists, acupuncturists, pediatric nurses, speech-language pathologists, doulas, midwives, and more to address the evolving needs of parents. This specialist network helps provide continuous, comprehensive care, as Oath users have access to this intimate community and medical support at their fingertips through all hours of the day.
Social and Spiritual Well-being
Oath works in the portfolio of social and spiritual well-being by fostering social bonds and connections between the parental users. The social driver of health lays the foundation of Oath, displacing healthcare from a vacuum and integrating it into an intentional, intimate community-based healthcare system.
The matched circles cultivate close relationships between like-minded parents with similar social situations. Parents get placed into circles based on three key factors: stage in parenting/age of the child, location, and career, to ensure parents within circles share some similar goals. These close-knit groups of 6-10 parents stratified across similar demographics provide a space to be vulnerable and share the triumphs and trials of their unique parenthood journeys.
The trusted circle facilitators, who have kids of their own and share personal parenthood experiences, help guide conversations in a meaningful way and provide support. These circles create a safe space for parents to have vulnerable conversations, share achievements and issues, and ask questions. The natural social connections resulting from the intimate circle of matched parents, trained facilitators, and medical providers enable parents to feel calm and supported in their parenthood journeys.
Community Well-being Creation
Community Health and Well-being
Oath works in the portfolio of community health and well-being by improving health, well-being, and equity on specific topics within defined place-based populations. Oath collaboratively assesses community health needs and recruit’s specialists onto their platform to address those pertinent health issues brought forward by their users.
Aside from the user's immediate facilitator and specialist care network, Oath curates a tailored curriculum to steer parents through their child’s unique developmental journey, providing relevant content, guidance, and resources. This personalized curriculum educates parents on topics salient to their specific parental and developmental goals, positively influencing community health behaviors through producing relevant content. As a company, Oath maintains specific goals to decrease rates of maternal mental health disorders, increase parent-child bonds, and help identify health issues sooner through the platform.
Communities of Solutions
Oath works in the portfolio of communities of success by focusing on long-term structural changes to drive community-wide transformations, creating a thriving and equitable community. Oath’s broader mission is to improve both child and parent health outcomes through its group-based, continuous care from fertility through pediatrics.
To accomplish this aim, Oath has addressed policy and system changes to promote health, well-being, and equity for all parents by increasing access to quality care for all. As a business, Oath maintains a subscription-based model.
For a monthly fee of $19.50, members receive their facilitated group, personalized curriculum, and access to the provider network. Furthermore, members may purchase private care sessions through the app, costing $40 per 15 minutes for a one-on-one phone or video care session with their desired healthcare specialist. Oath subscriptions and credits can be paid for using private FSA/HSA healthcare coverage benefits, usually covering six months of a subscription.
More importantly, as nearly half of all childbirths in the US are covered by Medicaid, Oath aims to reach the Medicaid population. This Medicaid focus is paramount as it helps narrow the vast healthcare disparities for recent mothers. Coming on the tail end of the U.S. House of Representatives passing a policy expanding Medicaid coverage for both mother and baby from pregnancy through the first year, Oath works to promote healthcare equity and create long-term structural changes, directly conferring community-wide health care improvements.
Through its influence on population management in the spheres of physical, mental, social, and spiritual health and facilitating long-term community well-being, Oath can positively improve population health outcomes in meaningful and equitable ways. Oath’s health circle of specialists, a trained facilitator, and an intimate community, along with the tailored curriculum, supports parents so they can best support their children.
Oath creates a curated community paired with seamless specialist communication for an all-encompassing care experience. By integrating these diverse facets into one easy-to-use app, Oath provides care at parents’ fingertips. Overall, Oath aims to improve both child and parent health outcomes through its group-based, continuous care from fertility through pediatrics, utilizing the power of connection to provide parents an avenue of support to raise healthy, thriving children.
