Funding Area: Poverty Alleviation
Thrive Allen County is the largest and most prominent rural health advocacy organization in Kansas. We work relentlessly to make Allen County the healthiest rural community in the state, a community that thrives both physically and fiscally.
In 2017, Thrive’s vision was recognized nationally, as Allen County won the prestigious Culture of Health Prize from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for pursuing innovative ideas and bringing partners together to rally around a shared vision of health.
Our involvement: The Marty Tomberg Charitable Fund has financially supported this organization.
Projects We Support
Thrive CARES (Coordinating and Assisting Reliable Enrollment Services)
The number one barrier to access to safety-net services is the application process itself. Even before Covid-19, Southeast Kansas residents requested access to a significant amount of resources and programs to assist them with living fulfilled lives. This included Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance, transportation services, and more. However, Covid-19 has revealed serious shortcomings of current safety-net programs, including an inability to cope with the consequences of mass unemployment and drastic increased need for services. Covid-19 shows that current institutions are not well structured to cope with three major consequences of mass unemployment: loss of income, loss of access to health insurance, and disruption of public services provided by state and local governments.
Thrive Allen County proposes to pilot a program where our community-based organization will partner with Advocatia Solutions, a tech start-up company focused on social determinants of health, to implement their cloud-based solution for streamlining safety-net applications in three communities: Allen County, Butler County, and Woodson County. This solution takes all the various forms required for the different safety-net programs and implements one form for clients to complete. The form asks for relevant information that is commonly found in all the applications and screening questions. It then processes the information and lets the individuals know in real time all the programs they qualify to apply for. Thrive’s four care coordinators go through the form one on one with residents seeking health and safety-net assistance to determine what programs they qualify for. The client then selects the programs they wish to enroll in and Advocatia’s technology compiles the information gathered from the screening and pre-populates that information into all the required forms for each application. Care coordinators then ask what questions were not able to be answered by the pre- screening. After completing the application, the care coordinator and client have the option to fax, email, or print and send the applications. This process simplifies the financial assistance experience and helps more patients enroll in health coverage and safety-net programs. This gives them the freedom to access the care they need. In addition, it allows clients to know exactly what programs they qualify for in real time and make decisions that are best for their families. This program alleviates poverty by getting people services they need, when they need them.
2023 – 2024 Funding Cycle
Thrive Allen County will expand its pilot program where community-based organizations throughout the State of Kansas will partner with Advocatia Solutions, a tech start-up company focused on social determinants of health, to implement their cloud-based solution for streamlining safety-net applications in 64 out of 105 counties in Kansas.
Support Dates: March, 2022 – – March, 2024
