Category: Government

Supporting South Dakotans: Our New Partnership with the Dept. of Health

We are very proud to announce that we have won a contract with the State of South Dakota’s Department of Health to build a statewide social care referral system, known as a Community Information Exchange (CIE), that will connect South Dakotans in need of social care services with the providers who can help them, with the goal of improving health outcomes among high-risk and underserved populations in the state. 

Findhelp will bring together the State of South Dakota government, Helpline Center/South Dakota 211, and other service providers to build an online system that will provide screening and assessments for individuals and connections to organizations that can provide help. (See how we partner with 211s across the country). 

Findhelp will support interoperability through an integration with the state’s Health Information Exchange (HIE); the CIE will provide information about social needs and predetermined health data to providers and community partners and manage service and referral requests. 

This new system will help eliminate many of the barriers that currently prevent people from finding and connecting with the services designed to support them, and will provide a single, secure platform to improve community care coordination.

Our Network in South Dakota

One of the reasons the South Dakota Department of Health chose Findhelp is because we have an engaged network that’s already in place. Our network spans the entire Mount Rushmore State and South Dakotans are already using our platform to find and connect to needed services and support. 

  • 69,995 users statewide 
  • 148,723 searches conducted statewide
  • 2,558 listed programs serving South Dakota
  • 443 claimed programs serving South Dakota

Findhelp’s data and analytic tools can identify gaps in services and provide actionable insights to inform public policy. For example, over the past two years, monthly users and searches on Findhelp’s network in South Dakota jumped 1,357% and 674% respectively, reflecting our important (and growing) role in connecting South Dakotans to local social assistance. 

Customer Spotlight: Sanford Health

We partner with several customers through the state to connect their patients, members, students, constituents, and clients to local resources. Today we’re spotlighting our partner Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the United States.

Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sanford Health launched Sanford Helps (powered by Findhelp) in 2022 to allow patients to connect with social care resources in their community for needs such as transportation, housing, and food insecurity. From April 2022 to August 2023, Sanford Helps has seen nearly 60,000 searches for community resources made by more than 24,000 community members across the region. 

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of launching their Findhelp platform, Sanford Health’s System Executive for Care Management, Lindsay Daniels, spoke with Dakota News Now about the success of Sanford Helps: “We know it’s really important for us to find a low-friction way to connect our patients and our staff to those resources, to the great people and organizations that can meet those needs.”

Reaching Rural Areas

Addressing social needs such as housing and food insecurity is critical to advance health equity among underserved populations with higher risks, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural communities. In collaboration with our existing customers like Sanford Health and our new partners at the Department of Health, we’re going to expand access and improve outcomes for South Dakotans statewide.

“We are grateful for the relationships we have built with South Dakotans over the past eight years and are honored to partner with the state’s Department of Health to reach even more residents,” said Erine Gray, Founder and CEO of Findhelp. “Individuals know they can count on Findhelp to connect them with the social care services they need, easily and compassionately, while protecting their privacy.”

Partner With Us

If you’d like to learn more about how we collaborate with CIEs and HIEs and can support your state’s work, connect with us!

Findhelp and TennCare: Serving Tennesseans Through Technology

We are excited to announce that we have won a contract with the State of Tennessee’s Medicaid Agency (TennCare)! Together, Findhelp and TennCare will help Tennesseans find the non-medical social care assistance they need, as part of the Health Starts Initiative.

TennCare is the state of Tennessee’s managed care Medicaid agency, and currently serves more than 1.7 million people, including low-income individuals such as pregnant women, children, caretaker relatives of young children, older adults, and adults with disabilities.

Findhelp will provide the technology that allows TennCare to assess non-medical risk factors of  individuals in need through a unified approach, and refer them to community-based organizations that can meet their needs — while tracking outcomes. 

The team members at the Rural Health Association of Tennessee are ready to partner with engaged communities and organizations to address the non-medical risk factors of the TennCare population by removing social care barriers and increasing accessibility to quality, compassionate care in rural areas.

Our Network in Tennessee

One of the reasons TennCare chose Findhelp is because we have an engaged network that’s already in place. Our network spans the entire Volunteer State and Tennesseans are already using our platform to find and connect to needed services and support. 

Findhelp’s data and analytic tools can identify gaps in services and provide actionable insights to inform public policy. For example, over the past two years, monthly users and searches on Findhelp’s network in Tennessee jumped 585% and 160% respectively, reflecting our important (and growing) role in connecting Tennesseans to local social assistance.

Customer Spotlights: Partnering for Success in Tennessee 

Findhelp has been active in Tennessee since 2015, and works with more than 570 of America’s largest health plans, hospital systems, government municipalities, educational institutions, and cause organizations to address social determinants of health (SDoH). 

As of August 2023, we partner with 14 customers throughout the state (including TennCare’s three Medicaid-managed care vendors) to connect their patients, members, students, constituents, and clients to local resources.

Here are some highlights of how these organizations successfully partner and innovate with us to lift up their communities.

Amerigroup Community Care (part of Elevance Health) is a managed care company chosen by the state of Tennessee as one of the health plans that provides health care coverage to people who qualify for TennCare.

Amerigroup launched the Community Resource Link platform (powered by Findhelp) in 2015 and participates in Elevance Health’s Social Determinants of Health Provider Incentive Program, in collaboration with Findhelp. Amerigroup is also partnering with our community engagement team to build a network of trusted community partners to help address their members’ social needs.

Chartered in 1829, Regional One Health is the oldest hospital in Tennessee and provides world-renowned Centers of Excellence in trauma, burn, neonatal intensive care, and high-risk pregnancy alongside oncology, primary and specialist care, rehabilitation therapy, pharmacy and imaging.

Regional One launched the One Health Connect platform (powered by Findhelp) in 2017 for patient self-navigation, and have since expanded into staff referrals via an integration with the Cerner electronic health record system.

Centurion is a leading national provider of healthcare and behavioral health services to incarcerated, justice-involved, and other special populations. They launched the Centurion Find Help platform (powered by Findhelp) in January 2022 to support both current inmates and individuals reentering society, and promote it via posters inside prison walls and convenient reminders like wallet cards that individuals can carry. 

“Centurion is deeply committed to transforming the health of the communities in which we serve,” said Dr. Johnny Wu, Executive Vice President and Chief of Clinical Operations. “Caring for our patients doesn’t end when they leave the facility; that’s why we are creating pathways for better transitions back into our communities.”

Closed-Loop Connections

Our closed-loop referral system will connect TennCare, community-based organizations across the state, and the TennCare managed care organizations, increasing care coordination and support to TennCare members and streamlining data collection to effectively measure impact.  

“We have been helping Tennesseans connect with the services they need since 2015, and we’re proud and grateful that we can expand our work in the state with TennCare, doing our part for the Health Starts Initiative,” said Erine Gray, Founder and CEO of Findhelp. “Individuals who come to Findhelp are treated compassionately and efficiently and their privacy is always protected.”

Partner With Us

If you’d like to learn more about how we partner with state agencies and can support your work, connect with us!

Connect Crittenden Launches: Blazing the Trail for a New Approach to Community Resources in the County

Kendra Phillips grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas, and after attending college out of state, she quickly returned to the hometown she loves. West Memphis, whose motto is “beautiful from every direction,” is located in Crittenden County, bordered to the east by the Mississippi River. The county is home to 47,500 people, many of whom have dedicated their lives to service with community organizations. 

Yet Kendra, who works in healthcare, also sees the unmet needs of her community. “We see people who can’t afford their co-pay, and who don’t have money to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables,” she says. “We see it firsthand every single day, how many people are struggling.”

Challenges Facing Crittenden County

State and local leaders also recognize the region’s needs. Crittenden County has the highest rate of food insecurity within the state, with 1 in 3 children living below the poverty line. At 22.9%, the county’s poverty rate is twice the national average, leading many families to struggle with basic needs like food and healthcare, and contributing toward its ranking as fifth in the state for poor health outcomes. Local nonprofits provide vital services, but the lack of an up-to-date resource directory and collaboration between organizations has made it difficult for people seeking help to connect with resources.

West Memphis Arkansas Bridge

Big River Crossing, West Mempis, AR

A Turning Point: The Arkansas Department of Health and Crittenden County’s SDoH Accelerator Plan, Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

In early 2021, a group of Crittenden County community leaders, along with representatives from the Arkansas Legislature, the Arkansas Department of Health, and findhelp assembled a small leadership team committed to closing the gap on barriers to achieving health equity in the County. As a result of this effort, the Arkansas Department of Health and Crittenden County officials applied for the CDC’s Closing the Gap with Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Plans grant to address Crittenden County’s SDoH challenges, and many local leaders voiced their support of the application.

Supporters included the Mayors of the City of West Memphis, Marion and Earle, key local, state and county officials,  including the Superintendent of Schools, the West Memphis Chamber of Commerce, the head of the Mid-South Community College, members of the Arkansas legislature, the Arkansas Department of Human Services, the East Arkansas Family Health Center, and a number of community based organizations.

Together, they emphasized the goal to build a foundation for addressing social determinants of health care gaps in Crittenden County to reduce disparities in health outcomes. 

Ever since the Arkansas Department of Health was awarded funding for the Crittenden County catchment area in Fall 2021, a diverse group of dedicated government and community leaders have worked tirelessly to create an infrastructure plan that bridges the gap between organizations providing services and people seeking help. In order to achieve their goals, leaders knew they needed a way to connect people with resources in their community. Through the leadership team’s work, an idea began to take shape: Connect Crittenden, a website that will help connect people to food, housing, transportation, healthcare, and many other local resources. 

The Connect Crittenden Launch

After several months of planning, Connect Crittenden, powered by findhelp, launched this June. The website will play a key role in the strategic plan to facilitate collaboration between community organizations and healthcare systems and allow people to easily search for help from the privacy of their own computer or mobile phone.

“I want to thank everyone who has made Connect Crittenden possible. The launch marks a key milestone in our work to increase cohesion between nonprofits and healthcare providers in Crittenden County. It means greater access for people seeking help, and greater awareness of resources available just a few miles from their home. This platform will strengthen the ties between organizations who are committed to health equity and the public good.” 

— Deborah Ferguson, Arkansas State Representative

Looking Toward the Future

As Crittenden County looks ahead, Kendra, the initiative’s project manager, is hopeful the website will pave the way for change. “A lot of our organizations have resources, but they’re on a piece of paper, and they can’t afford marketing to promote what they do,” she explains. “Now anyone can go in and type in the zip code and pull open what they need, so anyone can use it! This is hopefully going to be meaningful for a lot of people going forward.”

Local government officials share Kendra’s optimism about the platform, including the City of West Memphis’ Director of Community Outreach, who looks forward to community members being able to access resources through the website.

“I’m super excited about this project. Before, West Memphis didn’t have a resource hub, where people could learn about resources available to them. Connect Crittenden will help bridge the gap between citizens, city officials and departments, allowing our citizens to know that local resources exist. If you need help, this is where you can go to find it.” 

— Tawana Bailey, Director Of Community Outreach, City of West Memphis

In August, Kendra will lead a community stakeholders meeting, gathering government officials, pastors, and community organization leaders to discuss the direction they’re headed together. She’s also looking forward to the back-to-school community resource fair on August 6th from 11am-1pm in the West Memphis Old Courthouse parking lot, where residents can learn more about resources available to them.

Kendra is excited to see how the platform will help the community identify care gaps, such as transportation to clinics and food pantries, and create innovative solutions to challenges in the community, like collaborations between local nonprofits and higher education institutions to help people struggling with unemployment. 

Kendra loves her hometown and believes the next generation of Crittenden County residents can be healthier and more connected than her own. “This is going to connect us all and help us make a collaborative effort for people who need it most. This is the direction we’re going for the next generation. Everyone is hurting and everyone needs something. That’s why we need to connect and share.”