Keystone First Hires Local Health Care Startup to Engage Medicaid Members at Local Laundromats

Keystone First – a Blue Cross Medical Assistance (Medicaid) plan and the largest Medicaid plan in southeastern Pennsylvania – is working with health care startup Fabric Health to boost outreach to Medicaid beneficiaries in Philadelphia’s most vulnerable communities and help them complete the renewal process to determine their eligibility to retain health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Keystone First initially engaged Fabric Health to help its Medicaid members learn about their eligibility to access essential benefits and services, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). As members continue to be disenrolled for procedural reasons, the health plan asked Fabric Health to assist Medicaid members with the recertification process, also called redetermination.

Hundreds of thousands in the Philadelphia region must reapply for Medicaid this year. As of June 2023, 281,580 enrollees renewed their coverage and 137,525 enrollees were disenrolled, including 77,615 who were determined ineligible and 59,910 who were disenrolled for procedural reasons.^[i] Health care officials fear that half the people expected to lose Medicaid are still eligible.[ii]

“The work of Fabric Health supports our member engagement strategy of meeting people where they are,” said Keystone First Market President Joanne McFall. “We are confident that Fabric Health can help our members complete the recertification process and retain their health insurance coverage.”

Fabric Health, a public benefit corporation founded in 2021, uses local laundromats to serve as centers of Keystone First connectivity, communication and engagement. This strategy enables them to launch targeted campaigns for Keystone First members and their families. The organization estimates that 40% of the families that the startup connects with at laundromats have Medicaid insurance.

“By engaging Keystone First members in local laundromats, our collaboration with the health plan is making healthcare more accessible,” said Allister Chang, co-founder of Fabric Health. “Our mission is not only to connect families to healthcare resources, but also to support them through processes that can be confusing and frustrating, like Medicaid recertification.”

Presently, Fabric Health has outreach coordinators embedded in laundromats in communities serving a high concentration of Keystone First members, including in the 19120, 19131 and 19140 zip codes.

The outreach coordinators will conduct standard social determinants of health (SDOH) screenings to help identify the specific needs of a Keystone First member. If through the screening it is determined that a member should apply for a public benefit like SNAP, the coordinators will help determine for which benefits the member is eligible and then help them apply for the programs.

In addition to SNAP and TANF, Fabric Health will assist members in accessing the Senior Food Box Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants & Children (WIC), Heating Assistance (LIHEAP) in the fall and winter months, Property Tax/Rent Rebate (PTRR), Child Care Works subsidized childcare program, and other programs.

“Many of our members are eligible for these public benefits programs and may not know it,” McFall said. “Connecting members to the programs will help remove barriers that prevent members from achieving positive health outcomes.”

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