Healthify and Papa Team Up to Address the Impacts of Social Isolation and Loneliness Among Older Adults

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthify, a company that works with managed care organizations to integrate social determinants of health (SDoH) into the healthcare ecosystem, today announced a national partnership with Papa Inc. to provide caregiving services as part of its SDoH offering.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have recognized social isolation and loneliness as serious public health risks which affect more than one-quarter of older adults in the U.S. Evidence demonstrates that social isolation and loneliness can put people at risk for dementia, cardiovascular disease, depression and other serious health conditions.

Papa is the leading technology-enabled platform for companionship and assistance for older adults and families. Papa's on-demand assistance service helps alleviate social isolation and loneliness by pairing members with Papa Pals for companionship and assistance with everyday tasks. Through this new partnership, Papa's on-site and virtual companion health services will be available to health plans and healthcare providers as part of Healthify's SDoH platform.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has opened the eyes of people across the country to the negative impact being separated from family and friends can have on a person's physical, mental and emotional wellbeing," said Manik Bhat, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Healthify. "Until now it has been challenging to identify seniors at risk for social isolation and loneliness and intervene to provide support. Together with Papa, we're making it easy for healthcare organizations to seamlessly integrate companion services into their patient care offerings and help improve health outcomes."

Healthify's SDoH platform enables health plans and providers to identify social needs of members and patients, search for social services and coordinate care with an integrated network of community partners. Healthcare organizations can now use the platform to request Papa Pals to provide companionship, transportation, technology assistance, support with fitness, light chores and other activities for older adults and family members. Papa combines new member-level data from health plans and internal assessments to guide objectives for each visit and makes it easy for providers and payers to request Papa Pals, track and manage services. Papa is set to operate in all 50 states by 2021.

"By keeping people company and assisting with many activities of daily living, Papa offers an experience that can enrich the lives of older adults and help alleviate social isolation and loneliness," said Andrew Parker, Founder and CEO of Papa. "We are proud to collaborate with Healthify to help health plans and providers better integrate companionship into their SDoH initiatives to help low medical costs and improving the quality of life for seniors."

About Healthify

Powered by a mission to build a world where no one's health is hindered by their need, Healthify builds the infrastructure to support social determinants of health (SDoH) initiatives at scale. The company builds and manages accountable networks of community-based organizations and provides the necessary interoperable technology platform to allow the healthcare sector to coordinate care within the network. Healthify works with health plans, providers and community partners in all fifty states and is dedicated to community partner sustainability and demonstrating ROI for social service interventions to ensure that families receive the services they need to thrive. For more information, please visit www.healthify.us or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About Papa Inc.

Papa is a platform of curated companions that provide support and assistance to older adults and families nationwide. Papa was founded in 2017 in Miami, Florida. For more information, please visit https://www.joinpapa.com/.  

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SOURCE Healthify