CDC Awards Grant to NAFC, Phreesia and Health.Equity.Outcomes. to Tackle Public Health Challenge of Urinary Incontinence

Phreesia, a leader in patient intake, outreach and activation, together with the National Association For Continence (NAFC), Health.Equity.Outcomes. and Christina Escobar, MD, at New York University, are proud to announce that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a research grant for a joint project focused on combating the public health challenge of urinary incontinence (UI) in women.

This grant will fund a campaign to raise awareness of UI, which affects nearly 100 million women in the U.S. but remains underdiagnosed, undertreated and underdiscussed. Deployed on Phreesia’s digital patient engagement platform, the campaign will aim to empower women to start conversations with their providers about treatment and medical support. This is especially important, as studies have found that only 1 in 4 women with UI ever seek care from a healthcare professional (HCP), and for those who do, the average time between the onset of symptoms and first contact with an HCP is 6.5 years.

Additional research shows that women are disproportionately impacted by the condition because of factors such as pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. And, the prevalence of UI increases with age, affecting up to 75% of women over 65.

Living with UI can present a multitude of challenges, ranging from negative impacts on mental health to reduced social and physical activity and more. As part of the CDC’s competitive, three-year grant program, NAFC has partnered with Phreesia, Health.Equity.Outcomes., and Dr. Escobar to launch several initiatives to improve patient outcomes for UI through evidence-based public health interventions, including providing educational content to individuals at the point of care.

“If we can reach and activate an individual with UI to initiate a conversation with their HCP, we can help them get support much faster and dramatically improve their overall wellbeing,” said David Linetsky, Phreesia’s Senior Vice President, Life Sciences. “Empowering patients to be active participants in their care is at the heart of what we do at Phreesia, so we’re incredibly proud to be partnering with NAFC, Health.Equity.Outcomes., and Dr. Escobar on this important work driving action toward improving UI care on a national scale.”

In addition to the point-of-care campaign, NAFC, Phreesia, Health.Equity.Outcomes., and Dr. Escobar’s joint project will focus on creating an indicator report on UI prevalence and burden; reviewing available evidence and developing survey questions to fill evidence gaps; and developing and publishing additional educational content on screening, prevention and treatment options for individuals, public health professionals and HCPs.

“Incontinence has far-reaching effects on a person’s life, including impacts on mental health, reduced social and physical activity and personal financial repercussions,” said Sarah Jenkins, NAFC Executive Director. “This grant funding will help us increase awareness of UI and promote evidence-based practices for treatment, resulting in a positive impact on the quality of life for millions of Americans affected by the disease.”

The Expanding Capacity for Chronic Disease Education and Awareness grant program builds on the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion efforts with partners to advance education, outreach and public awareness of chronic diseases.

“Following recent national initiatives to improve women’s health, we’re grateful to build on this momentum through this partnership with NAFC, Phreesia and Dr. Escobar,” said Sheila Fifer, Ph.D., Principal at Health.Equity.Outcomes. “We’re looking forward to helping better document UI prevalence, burden and care delivery best practices as part of our mission to support public health providers with the most recent best practice information and research findings.”

“As wide-scale interest in improving women’s health increases, we’re proud to launch this project and disseminate new information about urinary incontinence,” said Dr. Escobar. “Through this partnership and grant, we will help drive public awareness and provide better knowledge for HCPs and public health professionals to ultimately enhance support for women challenged with UI on a national scale.”

Acknowledgment of Federal Funding: This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $375,000 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

About Phreesia

Phreesia is the trusted leader in patient activation, giving providers, health plans, life sciences companies and other organizations tools to help patients take a more active role in their care. Founded in 2005, Phreesia enabled more than 120 million patient visits in 2022–more than 1 in 10 visits across the U.S.–scale that we believe allows us to make meaningful impact. Offering patient-driven digital solutions for intake, outreach, education and more, Phreesia enhances the patient experience, drives efficiency and improves healthcare outcomes. To learn more, visit phreesia.com.

About NAFC

National Association For Continence is a national, private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with incontinence, voiding dysfunction, and related pelvic floor disorders. NAFC’s purpose is to be the leading source for public education and advocacy about the causes, prevention, diagnosis, treatments, and management alternatives for incontinence. More information is available online at NAFC.org.

About Health.Equity.Outcomes.

Health.Equity.Outcomes. (HEO) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that accelerates and sustains change at the local level by providing education, tools and resources to build the research infrastructure and community networks necessary to enable Community-Based Organizations and our Network of Community Health Centers to become viable strategic partners within the research enterprise. We seek to provide education, tools, and resources for community-based organizations (e.g. Behavioral Health clinics, FQHCs, etc.) to become viable strategic partners in designing, collecting, and analyzing real world evidence (RWE) that is meaningful to their communities, while at the same time serve as an additional revenue stream into the business. To learn more, visit HEO-US.org.

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