We Built What People Needed: The Work of Alluma Over the Last 20 Years

We began as problem-solvers. Our first challenge was made tangible by Sam Karp at the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF); he dropped a twenty-eight-page paper application on the desk before the CHCF’s board and said, “Go ahead. Try to fill it out.” It was the lengthy application for medical coverage via California’s new Children’s Health Insurance Program. That was in 1998.

At the time, applicants were required to make multiple in-person visits to agency and medical offices to successfully apply for health insurance for their children. Surely, CHCF thought, we can make this process more efficient and accessible to determine eligibility and enrollment? With that, CHCF and its public and private-sector partners – many of whom became Alluma's founding staff – began development of the first-in-the-nation web-based eligibility and enrollment tool for a public health coverage program. They worked relentlessly to help build an online verification tool with the first e-signature capability for the public sector. In 2001, they launched the Health-e-App pilot in San Diego County, and soon thereafter the State of California implemented Health-e-App statewide. Health-e-App accomplished exactly what Alluma's principals set out to do: create a simple, straightforward way to connect people to the healthcare they needed.

Health-e-App reduced the average time needed to fill out the application for healthcare coverage from 97 to 7 minutes. In 2003 we launched One-e-App, providing one interface to determine eligibility for a wide range of programs. One-e-App has screened more than 10 million individuals for coverage, and has submitted more than 67 million program applications on their behalf. In the nearly two-decades since launching the Health-e-App pilot, the Alluma team has brought curiosity and determination to the work as we build technology solutions, advise policymakers, and troubleshoot roadblocks to efficient eligibility, enrollment, and service delivery.

This timeline shares some of what we’ve accomplished:

1998-99 California Health Care Foundation streamlines 28-page paper application 2001 Health-e-App pilot launch 2003 One-e-App pilot launch 2005 Incorporation of the Center to Promote Healthcare Access 2008 Launch of Health-e-Arizona Plus (HEAplus) 2009 Drafting of section 1561 of the ACA 2010 Began doing business as Social Interest Solutions 2010 Launch of Health-e-App Public Access (HEA-PA) – Statewide application to California’s Healthy Families Program 2012 Social Interest Solutions launches One-e-App Mobile pilot program with the Redwood Community Health Coalition 2015 SIS is selected to develop Arizona’s Long Term Care Solution, which helps people navigate financial, medical, and practical considerations required to help seniors and people with disabilities to access ongoing services at a nursing-facility-level of care. 2016 SIS partners with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to develop a guide to selecting an online application for free/reduced-price school meals. 2017 SIS publishes first paper on cross-enrollment opportunities, Opportunities to Streamline Enrollment Across Public Benefit Programs. 2018 SIS partners with One Degree to develop a screening tool that allows California residents to determine if they’re likely eligible for CA health insurance and food assistance programs in less than three minutes. 2019 We are Alluma, a team of almost 200 people that dig deeper and look further to build solutions that really work. We've expanded our practices of human-centered innovation; the modular technology solutions we've developed are more nimble, allowing us to precisely meet the needs of our clients.

We are proud of how our work over the last twenty years has helped our partners fulfill a shared purpose. We’ve gone deep into the details, placing experts in software development alongside public health systems administrators. We’ve consulted on language used in the Affordable Care Act and provided quality technology tools to support states and counties in delivering food, healthcare, and economic support to their communities.

In our offices, lawyers troubleshoot with technologists and social workers team up with designers. We remain a team of problem-solvers committed to economic, social, and physical well-being for all. Recently, we’ve been hard at work strategizing about how we can best connect people to the resources they need in the years ahead. What purpose-driven innovations do you think have improved access to economic, social, and physical well-being? Please, share our timeline and join us in reflecting on all that we have accomplished together as we step into the next twenty years.