Boswell

Social factors such as housing stability and food security can affect 80% of a person’s health outcomes. For the 61 million Medicaid members struggling with at least one of these social needs, seeking preventive healthcare can seem like an afterthought in their challenging lives – even though they are more likely to have chronic illnesses and complex medical needs. Health providers and insurance plans recognize the importance of assisting their members with these social challenges, opting to screen for social needs when members show up in a clinic. However, these well-intentioned efforts are often ineffective, especially for the 32 million unengaged Medicaid members who never step foot in a clinic. In fact, instead of going to their health plan or doctor for help with social needs, 60% of all Medicaid members turn to one community touchpoint with regularity – food pantries.

Boswell helps Medicaid health plans find and engage their hard-to-reach and rising-risk members, in a community setting members trust when they need it the most. Starting with the 100,000 food pantries across the country, Boswell transforms social service organizations into the hub where Medicaid members engage with healthcare. Boswell accomplishes this in two ways: Boswell equips food pantries with free client management software to streamline intake and reporting. With the data collected, Boswell identifies clients belonging to local Medicaid health plans and helps the plans collaborate with the food pantries to engage these client-members in preventative care via a care collaboration platform (Boswell Data Partners).

Boswell also takes a more hands-on approach and periodically embeds a Community Health Worker team in food pantries to support pantry clients with health and social needs, maximizing food pantry impact without burdening their already-understaffed teams. Pantry clients receive support for all of the difficulties they are facing in life in one place, so that they can better manage their overall health.