Baby Reports for Pediatric Health Deserts

47% of US counties now pediatric health deserts

CONCORD, Mass., May 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alea Diagnostics ("Alea"), a company that enables child development monitoring by parents using the Lorestry app, offers newborn and child development progression reports to families living in pediatric health deserts across the U.S.

Last year, a report by the March of Dimes found that 36% of U.S. counties are maternity deserts. According to March of Dimes, a maternity care desert is any county in the United States without a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and without any obstetric providers.

This year, Lorestry used the American Board of Pediatrics workforce data set and found that 47% of U.S. counties are pediatric health deserts. A pediatric health desert is any county without a general pediatrician. As infant and child mental health and neuro-developmental disorders surge in prevalence, Lorestry also looked at the availability of developmental-behavioral pediatricians and found that 93% of U.S. counties are developmental-behavioral health deserts. There are currently 114,899 children for every 1 developmental pediatrician in the U.S. Developmental and behavioral pediatricians complete 3 additional years of specialized training following completion of a general pediatrics residency.

Lorestry is an important, new product designed for parents to remotely collect their observations about development progression on a digital timeline. The company provides on-demand, sharable baby reports that parents can use to update pediatricians and pediatric experts at regional centers that may be hours away from where they live. A decline in hospitals offering pediatric care was exacerbated during the pandemic with only 37% of hospitals now offering any pediatric care at all.

Lorestry recently mapped developmental referral resources in every U.S. state and territory for parents looking for support.

The Lorestry baby reports feature is available in the U.S. and 38 countries for as low as $14.99/month as an in-app purchase. It is available at no cost for Lorestry customers including leading employers, virtual health providers, NICUs, hospitals, rural health centers, children's health and early education foundations, and select marketing partners.

About Lorestry

Lorestry engages parents as health historians, storytellers, and collaborative partners for real-time observational data gathering. The company provides parents with their own data set that they can share with providers and early education teams.

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SOURCE Alea Diagnostics, Inc.