ACURE4Moms wins healthcare innovation award as J2 backs doula care

ACURE4Moms earned one of Healthcare Innovation’s annual Innovator Awards this week for its work on maternal health disparities, and J2 Interactive said it will donate to two doula groups tied to the program. The recognition comes as the project reports early gains in data collection, clinician response and statewide reach.

Why it matters: - ACURE4Moms is aimed at reducing stark maternal and infant health disparities that hit birthing parents of color hardest. - The program combines healthcare data, institutional accountability and community-based doula support, a model designed to improve outcomes that have lagged in the U.S. for years. - J2 Interactive’s donation to Momma’s Village-Fayetteville and MAAME, Inc. supports direct care for mothers who may otherwise lack community-based support.

What happened: - Healthcare Innovation named ACURE4Moms one of its three annual Innovator Awards this week. - J2 Interactive, a technical partner on the project, said it is sharing in the recognition and will donate to Momma’s Village-Fayetteville and MAAME, Inc. - The award announcement was made Sept. 9, 2026, in Boston. - ACURE4Moms stands for Accountability for Care through Undoing Racism and Equity for Moms.

The details: - The ACURE4Moms project brings together clinicians from the University of North Carolina, community-based doulas from MAAME and Momma’s Village-Fayetteville, and data experts from the North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority. - SAS and J2 Interactive provide the technology infrastructure supporting the effort. - The program has enrolled more than 58,000 patients across 49 sites statewide. - ACURE4Moms has collected more than 47,000 data points on medical, mental health and social risk factors tied to low birthweight and pregnancy complications. - The project’s health disparities dashboard is built from that data and gives providers and researchers visibility into where disparities emerge. - The alert system has produced an 85% clinician response rate. - Becky Durant, vice president of professional services at J2 Interactive, said the award recognizes the work of many stakeholders and said J2 designed the data alerts for the project. - Angela Tatum, founder of Momma’s Village-Fayetteville, said doulas support mothers before, during and after delivery, sometimes for up to a year after birth. - Tatum said the preliminary results suggest the approach could become a national model. - J2 Interactive also encouraged other healthcare IT partners to match its donations and support doula services.

Between the lines: - The award signals outside validation for a project focused on pairing data systems with community-based care, not just clinical intervention. - The reported clinician response rate suggests the alerting model is getting attention inside care teams, which matters if the goal is faster intervention. - The donation push also shows the project’s partners are trying to turn recognition into immediate support for frontline maternal care.

What's next: - Researchers will continue collecting and analyzing ACURE4Moms data even though enrollment has ended at most sites. - Final outcomes and impact are scheduled to be announced in 2028. - J2 Interactive is urging other healthcare IT partners to contribute financially to doula organizations supporting the program.

The bottom line: - ACURE4Moms is moving from promising pilot to broader proof point, with new award recognition, strong early engagement and more data still to come.