# Novel Digital Health Platform with Virtual Health Coach for Improving Perioperative Patient Outcomes and Care Coordination

> **NIH NIH R42** · PIP CARE, INC. · 2024 · $302,049

## Abstract

SUMMARY
In the US, 48 million surgeries are performed annually. Despite medical and surgical advancements,
postoperative complications are the third leading cause of death. Perioperative risk varies between patients
based on their health and surgical procedure(s). Patients with intermediate or high perioperative risk experience
extended hospital stays, higher readmission rates, and frequent adverse events, including death. Many higher
risk patients have modifiable risk factors. The healthcare industry is prioritizing the advancement of perioperative
care to reduce postoperative complications and improve patient outcomes by modifying risk factors through
medical optimization and prehabilitation. However, patients can find the perioperative journey complex and
impersonal. Patients often don’t have access to a tailored preparation plan and personal guidance, emotional
support, and motivation, despite clinical teams providing a high level of perioperative care detail. Furthermore,
perioperative guidance can be fragmented and confusing with information coming from multiple sources and
unclear tasks. Therefore, there is an unmet need to provide patients with comprehensive perioperative care
guidance and support with a more personalized, enhanced human touch to reduce postoperative complications.
Pip Care is developing a personalized, interactive surgical journey platform – complete with a live health coach
– to optimize the perioperative care process. Our platform, Pip, works seamlessly with any electronic medical
record, thus making it easier and more efficient for care providers to support patients. Additionally, via our
platform, a health coach completes a health intake to create a personalized perioperative care plan, meets
regularly with the patient to encourage goal accomplishment, and facilitates care coordination. Pip empowers
patients to participate in the preoperative optimization goals by breaking down a patient's healthcare plan into
definable, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-complete tasks, and a Health Coach helps to keep the patient on
track to achieve these goals through education and motivation.
In this Fast-Track STTR, our goal is to expand the Pip platform and evaluate the platform among surgical patients
undergoing a variety of surgeries. We propose to (1) develop new clinical pathway modules for additional clinical
comorbidities, surgery types, and coordination of care; (2) assess feasibility, usability acceptability, and
appropriateness; (3) conduct a clinical study and assess our platform’s effects on patient clinical outcomes; and
(4) assess patient-centered outcomes related to the Pip digital health platform and health coaches.
Successful completion of this proposed project will be a major step in advancing the development of our platform
for perioperative care management, ultimately improving patient outcomes and lowering healthcare costs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11013554
- **Project number:** 1R42HL174371-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** PIP CARE, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Holder-Murray
- **Activity code:** R42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $302,049
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-26 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11013554

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11013554, Novel Digital Health Platform with Virtual Health Coach for Improving Perioperative Patient Outcomes and Care Coordination (1R42HL174371-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11013554. Licensed CC0.

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