Cooperative Agreement to Support Navigators in Federally-facilitated and State Partnership Marketplaces - Southeast, Inc.(dba as Southeast Healthcare) is a 50l(c)3 non-profit comprehensive provider of mental health, chemical dependency, primary healthcare, vocational, dentistry, and homeless services that operates as a Federally Qualified Health Center providing services across eight counties in Ohio. Southeast proposes to serve individuals in ten Ohio counties: Belmont, Carroll, Delaware, Franklin, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, Morrow, and Tuscarawas. On October 1, 2024, Southeast will have a total of 7 federally-trained and certified navigators. Three will be full-time and four will be part-time, for a total of 4.9 FTE. The total funding requested for the five year project will be $1,836,818 (Year 1 - $340,244.58; Year 2 - $347,199; Year 3 - $364,559; Year 4 - $382,787; Year 5 - $401,926). The Navigators will travel to ten counties in central and eastern Ohio for enrollment events and will partner with local organizations to provide education and enrollment services for Medicaid/CHIP and A.C.A. Marketplace health insurance. The priority populations live in the urban and suburban areas of Franklin, Delaware, and Tuscarawas Counties, and the mostly rural areas of Belmont, Carroll, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, and Morrow counties. Southeast Navigators will focus on those who are losing their Medicaid/CHIP due to the Medicaid Unwinding. As an FQHC, Southeast Healthcare serves a larger number of underserved and disadvantaged individuals, people with disabilities, and persons experiencing homelessness, and the navigators will continue to do likewise. Southeast Navigators will continue to host outreach and enrollment events that provide services to mothers and their children, new Americans with language and cultural barriers, African Americans, Asian Americans, and the LGBTQ+ community. The Southeast Navigator Program will not have any sub-recipients. Southeast's navigator team has a strong desire to help people access quality, affordable health insurance choices and has extensive experience serving the public. In addition to the CMS training, Southeast trains the navigators extensively in ensuring privacy and security and in cultural diversity. Southeast has been providing outreach and enrollment assistance as well as "coverage-to-care" assistance to Ohio consumers continually since Sept 2013, initially as a member of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks Consortium, and since August 2020 as a Navigator Awardee. The Southeast Navigators are on track to meet or exceed their 2023-2024 goals. Southeast has relationships with many consumers, small businesses, job placement programs, health providers, libraries, health departments, managed care providers for Medicaid and Marketplace, faith-based and community groups in its service area. Southeast has a proven record of working with diverse populations with a broad range of educational, economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, including those with limited English proficiency. Years of providing health insurance navigation services show that a large majority of the disadvantaged and underserved consumers are in serious need of in¬ person assistance from a Navigator. Many are resistant to teleconferencing, are computer illiterate, and/or are reluctant to divulge personal information over the phone. Therefore, Southeast intends to continue to provide personal, on-the-ground, professional enrollment assistance to the Ohioans it plans to serve in 10 counties.
