Nationwide — Kimberly Seals Allers, the founder of Irth, the #1 app for Black parents to rate and review maternity and pediatric doctors and hospitals, has announced the launch of Crown Rewards, an innovative program for users to earn “coins” for sharing reviews of their maternity and infant care experiences, which can be redeemed for cash or exclusive discounts from a curated selection of brand partners offering products and services that families need and love.“Since we launched Irth’s movement to end Black maternal mortality and morbidity by crowd-sourcing Black parent voices to drive more transparency and accountability within health systems, we have been telling everyone that the lived experiences of Black and brown mothers and birthing people matter- they have true value. Now we get to live out that mantra every day in the app, by giving our users literal cash value for sharing their patient feedback, helping direct others to safe providers, and supporting the Irth community,” says Kimberly, who is also the Executive Director of Narrative Nation, a leading Black woman-owned technology and media non-profit dedicated to advancing birth equity. Irth is Narrative Nation’s grant-funded, flagship project.
Irth (as in birth, but we dropped the B for bias) is the first of its kind, non-profit rating and review platform that is like a “Yelp” for safe Black birth. Black and brown mothers, fathers, parents, and doulas can leave and search reviews of prenatal, birthing, and pediatric experiences. On the back end, Irth’s anonymized reviews are turned into robust patient experience data and actionable insights and strategies to partner with hospitals, payers, and providers through the Birth Without Bias Quality Improvement Program. Irth’s BWB Program, a two-year quality improvement partnership for hospitals that centers on Black and brown patient experiences, is now being implemented in eight health systems across six states, with a focus on helping hospitals “learn from the living” to provide more respectful, equitable care, while driving community accountability and transparency.
In the U.S. Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. The CDC has said that over 80% of these deaths were preventable. Bias and racism in care are a key cause of these disparities.
Irth’s Crown Rewards program is powered by a back-end wallet, built on secure blockchain technology that enables direct payments and empowers Irth users not only to share their patient experiences but to own and derive direct value from their data while helping to drive systemic change in maternal care. The wallet, direct payments, and blockchain ledger capabilities are made possible through Irth’s groundbreaking partnership with Veritaseum, making Narrative Nation the first non-profit to license U.S. Patent 11196566 for direct, peer-to-peer value transfers.
“Our patented, zero trust value transfer technology is about much more than finance, investment, and trading. Each person should directly benefit from sharing their data. Irth is a perfect illustration of how this technology can literally save lives, and do so without the need for an authoritative corporate party to stand as a middleman or gatekeeper,” says Reggie Middleton, founder of Veritaseum, inventor, and a key figure in the development of decentralized software.
“With our partnership with Veritaseum we are excited to be on the forefront of leveraging emerging technologies, like blockchain, for social change and to disrupt the typically extractive relationship between data and communities of color,” adds Kimberly. This partnership acknowledges the foundational nature of Middleton’s inventions and his respective patents related to peer-to-peer value transfer.
In addition, Narrative Nation is thrilled to introduce the Irth Marketplace, a first-of-its-kind social impact initiative where corporate partners can provide goods, services, and exclusive discounts to support Irth app users and the data-driven solutions for birth equity that their feedback provides. Through the Irth Marketplace, brands that prioritize maternal health and family wellness can contribute directly to the well-being of Black and brown birthing families, by offering codes for free or discounted products and services that families need.
About
Narrative Nation, Inc., a New York City-based 501(c)(3), is committed to addressing racial disparities in maternal and infant health through technology and narrative-centered multimedia. Irth, a flagship project of Narrative Nation, offers Black and brown families a safe, community-centered platform to share and access reviews of maternity and pediatric care providers. Narrative Nation also produces Birthright, a podcast that only shares positive Black birth stories.
For more information on the Crown Rewards program, the Irth Marketplace, or partnership opportunities, visit IrthApp.com.
For press inquiries, contact send an email to KSA@IrthApp.com