This week How does success happen?I recently spoke with Kwamane Riddell, founder of ThriveLink, a platform that uses AI to help families access programs like health insurance, food stamps, and utility assistance. Having started her career in healthcare as a nurse, Riddell's unique insight into the needs of underserved communities inspired her to create a solution that would bridge the gap between access to healthcare and the social determinants of health.
You can listen to our full conversation above, and below I've excerpted three key takeaways: I hope you'll be as inspired by Liddell's journey as I was.
Transforming personal experiences into advocacy
Liddell said seeing health disparities firsthand gave her a deep understanding of public health issues, and her involvement with health care inequities has led her to become a reformer and advocate for underserved communities.
“I was a nursing administrator at Alameda Health System, and I saw so many patients lose their health, and it wasn't because they needed medical care,” he says. “We helped them get their blood pressure down, we helped them control their diabetes — simple things — but when they left the hospital, they needed to be able to afford their medications, have access to healthy food, housing, etc.”
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The ThriveLink Impact
Riddell shared inspiring stories of patients who have benefited greatly from ThriveLink's services, illustrating the profound impact that accessible health resources can have on individuals and communities.
“When we were doing our first pilot with Atrium Health in North Carolina, [a] A patient came into the doctor's office with a really serious clinical need, but one of the things she was really concerned about was her utility bills,” Liddell says. “She didn't have the money to pay for it. During the pilot, the doctor just gave her the ThriveLink phone number, and with no additional work from the doctor or the team, she was enrolled. She called the number and enrolled in a local utility assistance program. She didn't know the program existed, but the program paid her utility bill of $519.”
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AI-based healthcare
Riddell will discuss how AI is dramatically reducing costs and expanding service capabilities for community clinics across the U.S., enabling ThriveLink to more efficiently deliver vital support to patients.
“At ThriveLink, we're building a phone AI bot that can talk to patients and allow them to verbally enroll in things like food stamps, utility assistance, and even Medicaid without the need for internet or a phone number,” Liddell says. “With AI, every community clinic in the U.S. can help and enroll patients in a more affordable way than ever before. And that's really our focus: building tools. We'll continue to build tools in healthcare and beyond.”
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