Healthcare at Risk: Business Development & Community Partnerships Team Ramp Up Client Outreach

Access to Healthcare is a human right. Unfortunately, those enrolled in New York State of Health (NYSOH) insurance are at great risk of losing that access due to the Public Health Emergency (PHE) ending. During the COVID-19 pandemic, families enrolled in New York State Medicaid, Child Health Plus and Essential Plan did not need to renew their health insurance due to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. After three years, NYSOH has announced that as of this spring, 6.9 million individuals in New York will need to redetermine their eligibility for NYSOH insurance.

When our Business Development & Community Partnership Team (BDCP) first learned about the imminent end of the PHE, our immediate response was to understand and inform about the implications for our clients. God’s Love serves thousands of clients living in highly saturated Medicaid neighborhoods. Knowing that loss of coverage results in a disengagement from care, our clients would potentially be unable to receive our services.

As a team, we internally promoted the impact and risk our clients were facing so that we could identify those who might need assistance in determining their eligibility. We ramped up our external outreach efforts to ensure that our partners across the city were helping support our clients wherever possible. We established new linkage agreements with social service agencies such as Community Agency for Senior Citizens, Latino Commission on AIDS, NY Connects: Manhattan at New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, and more as an effort to ensure that those needing assistance with their renewal would be connected with partner organizations.

Recently, the BDCP team attended the United Health Fund Medicaid Conference to learn about the outreach efforts NYSOH has pursued to ensure no New Yorker is without health coverage. Since then, our agency has been working strategically with our partners to continue supporting our clients through this important transition. As an agency, our mission is to improve the health and well-being of people living with serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition, and keeping our clients engaged in care is vital to fulfilling that mission.