Health Assist Tennessee was founded in January, 1994 as the TennCare Consumer Advocacy Program, a service of Crisis Intervention Center in Nashville. The TennCare Bureau funded the program to provide healthcare counseling and patient advocacy services for TennCare enrollees state-wide. Initially we helped callers with urgent medical needs who needed special help to get health care.

Services originally were provided in English and Spanish, with Arabic and Kurdish added in 1998. A new component was added in late 1998 to provide monitoring and overview of the TennCare services provided to children in the custody of the state of Tennessee. In 2000, bilingual counselors were added through a contract with the Department of Human Services, to assist those who spoke Bosnian, Somali, and Vietnamese. The program doubled in size and budget in 2002, expanding to include an outreach component to assist TennCare enrollees who were facing disenrollment.

In July of 2005, the program became a stand-alone 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, under the name Health Assist Tennessee, and identified a core Board of Directors to assist in the future progress of the program. As the needs of Tennesseans expanded, Health Assist Tennessee also grew.

Currently our programs include: TennCare Consumer Advocacy, AccessTN Assistance and Outreach, Health Care Navigation for the Uninsured, and Medical Interpreting. Each year we guide more than 70,000 Tennesseans to healthcare resources.

 

Please check out our specific program pages (under Need Help?) to find out more.