Aunt Bertha and Geisinger Partner to Launch New Social Care Platform for Pennsylvania Residents

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Aunt Bertha, America's leading search and referral platform of social service organizations, announces its partnership with Geisinger, one of the nation's largest health service organizations, to support Geisinger's new social care platform, Neighborly, which launched in March.

This is one of many partnerships for Aunt Bertha in Pennsylvania, including those with Gateway Health and Highmark Health. Aunt Bertha's growing customer base in Pennsylvania continues to amplify the network effects in the state, enabling new users to benefit from a network that's already sending and receiving social care referrals at scale. With Aunt Bertha's technology, these organizations can now provide a simple and easy path to refer patients to free and reduced-cost services in their local communities. Since 2015, nearly 130,000 Pennsylvanians have used Aunt Bertha to connect to social services.

Neighborly, powered by Aunt Bertha, provides residents in Pennsylvania the ability to easily search and connect with organizations that provide social services including food, housing, childcare, transportation, utility assistance, healthcare, financial assistance and other needs. The platform also helps these social care providers more easily and effectively coordinate care for clients in need of multiple forms of social assistance.

Currently serving more than 3 million residents throughout central, south-central, and northeastern Pennsylvania — as well as counties in southern New Jersey — Geisinger has long been a leader in defining strategies for addressing social determinants of health (SDoH) such as where individuals live, work, and socialize. After exhaustive research into the social care landscape and all available solutions over a 2 year period, Geisinger selected Aunt Bertha to create their new community resource network. After initially planning for a community-by-community rollout of the platform across an 18-month timeline, the healthcare provider realized it needed to rapidly accelerate its deployment in the wake of COVID-19 and its impact on Pennsylvania communities. With Aunt Bertha's experience and understanding of the social care landscape in Pennsylvania, as well as its extensive nonprofit network that was already in place in Pennsylvania, Geisinger was able to move swiftly from a pilot in Lackawanna County to a social care platform available to every community in just 18 days.  

"When we launched Aunt Bertha 10 years ago from Austin, Texas, the mission was simple — help everyone, regardless of background or means, find the help they need with dignity and ease," said Erine Gray, Aunt Bertha Founder and CEO. "Geisinger has more than a century worth of experience providing healthcare services to Pennsylvanians, and we're extremely proud to be working with them to improve access to social services across the state — especially during these times when individuals and families need these vital services the most." Aunt Bertha celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month, after launching in August 2010 during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

"Neighborly opened its doors in March amid a global pandemic with a laser focus on making it easy for our neighbors to connect with the resources they need close to home," said Brian Ebersole, Senior Director of Springboard Health at Geisinger, "the partnership with Aunt Bertha was the right choice for our communities and our organization." 

Following the launch of the platform's pilot phase in March this year, more than 2,400 neighbors have been able to connect with, and benefit from, social care providers on Neighborly in just a 4-month period. Even in its early stages, the platform is changing the way Geisinger cares for its patients, serves its members, and partners with the community. Search data on the platform provides new insights on the services Pennsylvanians need the most, uncovers coordination gaps that currently exist, and guides the allocation of resources.

For more information on Neighborly, please visit https://www.NeighborlyPA.com. For more information on Aunt Bertha, please visit https://www.company.auntbertha.com.

About Aunt Bertha

Aunt Bertha is the leading referral platform for social services in America, serving the biggest cities and smallest towns. It connects people seeking help and the verified social care providers that serve them, with dignity and ease. Aunt Bertha makes it easy for people to find social services in their communities, for nonprofits to coordinate their efforts, and for organizations to integrate social care into the work they already do. Aunt Bertha serves millions of users and its platform is used in a wide range of industries including education, government, housing, and healthcare.

About Geisinger

Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1.5 million consumers it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 13 hospital campuses, a 600,000-member health plan, two research centers and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. With 32,000 employees and 1,800 employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by billions of dollars annually. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Press Contact:
Tom Hannaford
MWWPR
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SOURCE Aunt Bertha

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