Indiana Social Care Summit: Highlights from the Hoosier State
Across Indiana, something bigger than a single initiative is taking shape. It’s a shift from fragmented systems to shared infrastructure, from isolated efforts to coordinated action. At this year’s Indiana Social Care Summit, leaders from across healthcare, government, and community organizations came together to explore how data, collaboration, and local insight can reshape access to care, especially in rural communities where the gaps are widest and the stakes are highest.
Read on for key takeaways:
Rural transformation is underway: Indiana is investing heavily in regional, technology-enabled solutions to strengthen rural health systems.
“No wrong door” requires shared infrastructure: Collaboration, data, and community buy-in are critical to connecting people with the right support.
Community organizations are leading the way: CBOs are driving adoption, engagement, and innovation on the ground.
A special thank you to everyone who joined us and to our fantastic speakers for sharing their insight, experiences, and vision.
Highlights from the 2026 Indiana Social Care Summit
This year’s Summit featured 58 participants representing government agencies, healthcare providers, community organizations, and more:
Below are some of the key themes and takeaways from a day of learning and sharing.
Bridging the gap in rural health
Indiana’s path forward starts with a clear-eyed view of the challenge and the opportunity. Tara Morse of IN211 opened the summit by emphasizing the need for transformation across rural communities:
“In order to support rural hospitals, we really have to transform the way we do things.”
Tara Morse
Executive Director, Indiana 211
Indiana Family & Social Services Administration
With 64 fully rural counties and several more partially designated, the need for tailored, regional solutions is significant. Through new federal funding, Indiana has secured substantial investment to support interoperability, health information exchanges, and coalition-based approaches to care.
That transformation will depend in part on embracing innovation. At the same time, Morse underscored a critical truth that grounded the conversation throughout the day: “We will never remove the need for people to talk to someone”.
Technology can scale access, but relationships remain the backbone of care.
A connected future for social care
As Indiana builds toward a more integrated system, maintaining trust and usability is essential.
Rachel Lauderdale, VP of Customer Success at Findhelp, highlighted the importance of staying committed to consent-driven data sharing as interoperability expands. Even as systems connect, protecting individual choice and privacy remains foundational.
Across sessions, the vision of a “no wrong door” system surfaced again and again, not as an abstract goal, but as a practical framework for aligning organizations, tools, and workflows.
Turning collaboration into action
In a panel featuring leaders from community organizations, speakers shared how collaboration is showing up in real, tangible ways.
Megan Day of Early Learning Indiana offered a roadmap grounded in experience:
“Keep your why at the center. Listen and flexibly give back to those you’re working with. Keep it simple and accessible.”
Megan Day, MSW
Manager, Family Engagement
Early Learning Indiana
Her team uses Findhelp not just to meet immediate needs like childcare, but to uncover and address related family challenges such as employment or housing, expanding the impact of every interaction.
Brian Replogle of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County described how shared data can sharpen community response. By combining local insight with platform data, communities can identify gaps and respond with targeted interventions.
“Findhelp data informs how we strategize to help our community, for example, by hosting pop-up food pantries in areas of high need, based on search data.”
Brian Replogle
Assistant Director, Early Childhood Coalition
Community Foundation of Elkhart County
Medicaid expansion for Indiana school nursing
Cam Wigton, SchoolCare Partnerships Manger at Findhelp, explored how the platform’s integrated Medicaid billing functionality captures often-missed reimbursement opportunities without adding to nurse burnout.
Mary Hess, former Health & Wellness Director at Fort Wayne Community Schools, shared her firsthand experience using data to drive student health outcomes and fiscal health in one of Indiana’s largest districts.
Elevating community-based organizations
Community-based organizations are central to making connected care a reality. Christina Arrom Garza of the Immigrant Welcome Center shared how her team integrates Findhelp into daily workflows to better serve diverse populations.
“I love the language functionality of Findhelp. We use that language functionality all the time.”
Christina Arrom Garza, J.D.
Chief Operations Officer
Immigrant Welcome Center
Her team’s approach reflects a broader cultural commitment to shared responsibility: “It’s not just one person’s job, it’s everyone’s job to use it to help”. From maintaining up-to-date program information to actively engaging partners, CBOs are ensuring that the system remains accurate, accessible, and responsive.
Laying the groundwork for data sharing
In workshop sessions, attendees rolled up their sleeves to explore what it takes to build a truly connected ecosystem across healthcare and community organizations.
Participants discussed challenges around consent, standardization, and governance, while also recognizing how much progress has already been made.
As one participant noted: “The foundation is there, but it would be like building a new house on that foundation”.
The infrastructure exists. The next step is aligning around shared processes and scaling collaboration across partners.
Beyond the Summit: Our work in Indiana
While the Summit provided a rich day of insight and connection, the real work continues — in homes, clinics, schools, and community hubs across the state.
Some of the numbers that show the scale and momentum:
- 8,529 listed programs serving Indiana
- 2.8 million users across the state
- 9.7 million searches for resources
- 144,000 social needs assessments completed
- 100% of counties have claimed programs
As of April 2026, we partner with more than 55 customers throughout the state to connect their patients, members, students, constituents, and clients to local resources. Our data and analytic tools can identify gaps in services and provide actionable insights to inform strategy and public policy.
Let’s keep the conversation going
The Indiana Social Care Summit highlighted a system in motion. From rural health transformation efforts to coalition-building and data-sharing initiatives, there is clear momentum toward a more coordinated future.
What will determine success is not just funding or technology, but continued partnership across sectors and communities. Indiana’s approach reflects a broader shift: building systems that are not only more connected, but more responsive to the people they serve.
And as the conversations throughout the day made clear, that work is already well underway.
If you’re interested in how Findhelp can support your work — whether you’re a health system, community-based organization, payer, or state agency — we’d love to chat.
