Exclusive: Caregiver support platform Helpful partners with VNS Health

Helpful, a platform offering caregivers details on their loved ones’ insurance benefits and medical records, is announcing a partnership with New York-based VNS Health to give caregivers of the health plan’s members easy access to their coverage and care information.

“What we do differently is we look at caregiving as a job,” Wes Donohoe, CEO and cofounder of Helpful, told MobiHealthNews. “We know this is a really complicated and incredibly challenging and evolving job, and we want to give them a tool to be able to do that job better.”

Helpful provides a HIPAA-compliant platform that guides caregivers through a loved one’s health insurance benefits and gives them access to their medical records. 

VNS Health, formerly Visiting Nurse Service of New York, is a not-for-profit home and community healthcare company serving New York City, parts of upstate New York, and the counties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk.

The organization offers health plans, including a mix of Medicare Advantage and Medicaid Managed Long Term Care plans. Some of the plans include benefits not covered by government plans. 

Through the partnership, the Helpful app is free of charge to caregivers of the healthcare plan’s members. 

The app will help users understand the benefits provided to their loved ones through their specific VNS Health plan and the necessary steps caregivers must take to utilize those benefits.

“What we’ve done is, we’ve taken all of those benefits, we’ve put them into our application. We’ve allowed you to search it, discover it, and we start to personalize it based on your health outcomes, like your conditions and your loved one’s situation,” Donohoe said.

The company also offers what Donohoe calls a personal health record for caregivers to get a clearer picture of their loved ones’ care. 

“We pull in past visits, medications, their care team, allergies and conditions into our experience,” said Donohoe.

The platform also provides guides related to a loved one’s condition and connects that condition to the benefits of the VNS Health plan. 

“As a loved one goes to the doctor, as a new medication is introduced, as a new care team comes in, all of those things, we automatically pull that information and present all the relevant information to you as you are caring for your loved one,” Donohoe said. 

“There’s companies out there doing stuff with benefits. There are companies out there doing some of the health-record aspects. But what we’ve done, which is unique, is that we’ve combined them, and then present it to a family member – not a member, a family member – that’s really caring for a loved one, who puts it into context.”

Helpful has so far integrated with over 30,000 hospitals and providers. Its offerings with VNS Health are now available for all caregivers of the healthcare plans’ members.