FRANKLIN, Tenn. (June 28, 2019)—AdhereHealth, a health care technology company focused on medication adherence, has announced a partnership with Papa, a companionship platform company serving the elderly, blind and disabled. A growing issue for millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare are social determinants of health (SDOH) such as loneliness, food insecurity and transportation, any one of which can impede optimal health care and medication adherence. This combined relationship addresses foundational barriers to care through advanced technologies and a compassionate, personal interaction.
"We could not be more excited about this partnership as it extends the Adhere platform’s reach into the home with Papa assisting those most in need of personal support," said Jason Z. Rose, AdhereHealth CEO. "Our analytics and clinical workflows will help direct Papa Pals to address a myriad of SDOH issues our consumers face, such as transportation to doctor appointments and local pharmacies, grocery shopping, housing chores, and other senior services."
In 2018, CMS announced a new policy allowing Medicare Advantage and Part D health plans to pay for SDOH services as a medical expense for seniors with chronic diseases. Now AdhereHealth can deploy “Papa Pals” to consumers at risk for poor health outcomes for face-to-face support. Most Papa Pals are college students majoring in nursing, social work or hospitality that desire to improve consumer quality of life.
Andrew Parker, founder and CEO of Papa, shared, "We have realized that social determinants of health in America is an increasing factor in medical non-compliance." He continued, "Collaborating with AdhereHealth will allow Papa’s team of personal companions to make an intergenerational impact on the most vulnerable in our society, providing them the freedom to age in place while having an advocate at their side to aid them in the journey through health care."
Papa works with large Medicaid and Medicare clients who have embraced companion health for their members. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention uses the healthy days metric to measure consumer quality of life. This partnership is immediately available to over 20 million American’s covered by Medicare Advantage plans.
Visit adherehealth.com/papa for more information.
