Healthy Together Partners with Chickasaw Nation to Modernize its Summer EBT Program

MIAMI, Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthy Together, a leading technology company specializing in innovative solutions for health and human services departments, proudly announces a transformative partnership with the Chickasaw Nation, selected through a Request for Proposal process, aimed at modernizing the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance critical social assistance initiatives.

After competitive evaluation, the Chickasaw Nation selected Healthy Together as its partner to revolutionize the Summer EBT program. This program has consistently played a pivotal role in addressing food insecurity and delivering essential nutritional support to families during the school summer break. In 2023, the Chickasaw Nation partnered with 183 school districts to serve more than 47,000 students in 25 counties in rural Oklahoma. Because of Oklahoma's high national ranking for food insecurity, these services are critical for many families.

By aligning forces with Healthy Together, the Chickasaw Nation is embarking on a journey to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and impact of this vital program.

"Our partnership with the Chickasaw Nation to enhance their Summer EBT program exemplifies the potential of technology to make a profound impact on the lives of those in need," said Jared Allgood, President of Healthy Together. "Our modular, SaaS solution, is uniquely tailored to meet Chickasaw's requirements and empower them to provide a seamless experience for their community."

This dynamic collaboration will integrate Healthy Together's innovative solution, introducing a modernized approach to managing multifaceted programs. The integration is poised to empower Chickasaw Nation to automate various aspects of the program, including eligibility assessments, enrollment and application processing, benefit management, reporting, and more. With the improved participant experience, they aim to increase the percentage of eligible students issued benefits from 58% in 2023 to 65% in 2024. By providing multiple avenues for program engagement and creating efficiencies within staff workflows, staff can respond more quickly to participant needs.

Healthy Together's advanced capabilities are poised to significantly alleviate administrative burdens, fostering heightened accuracy and efficiency in enrollment processes. Participants of the program will enjoy the benefits of a user-friendly interface, enhancing accessibility and convenience. Moreover, the integration will equip Chickasaw Nation with real-time data analytics and reporting tools, facilitating informed decision-making and the agility to adapt the program to evolving needs.

"We eagerly anticipate embarking on this transformative journey with Healthy Together," said Tyra Shackleford, Summer EBT for Children program manager at Chickasaw Nation. "The modernization of our Summer EBT program through this partnership underscores our commitment to innovation and promises to positively impact the lives of the families we serve and help to meet our mission to enhance the quality of life of Chickasaws." The Chickasaw Nation Summer EBT for Children program provides qualifying children a monthly benefit for food purchase during the summer months. This federally funded program is available to First American and non-First American families. Benefits are placed on an EBT card, which works like a debit card, and allows families to purchase healthy food during the summer months. Families with children receiving free or reduced-cost school meals may qualify for this summer program.

About Healthy Together

Healthy Together is a health technology company that provides SaaS solutions for Health & Humans Services Departments. Their mission is to improve collective health and make government more efficient. Healthy Together supports a "One Door" approach to eligibility, enrollment, and management for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, TANF and WIC, as well as behavioral health (988), disease surveillance, vital records, child welfare and more. Healthy Together's mobile application has reached #1 in the App Store Health & Fitness category and has over 225k reviews on the App Store and Play Store with a 4.9/5 star rating.

To learn more about Healthy Together's solutions, visit www.healthytogether.co.

About Chickasaw Nation

With more than 80,000 citizens, the Chickasaw Nation is a democratic republic with executive, legislative and judicial departments elected by its citizens. The treaty territory of the tribe includes 7,648 square miles of south-central Oklahoma and encompasses all or parts of 13 Oklahoma counties. The Chickasaw Nation contributes billions to the Oklahoma economy annually and employs more than 14,000 workers.

Participation in the Chickasaw Nation Summer EBT program has no impact on other government assistance families may receive. 

SOURCE Healthy Together