About the Health Assistance Partnership
HAP's Mission
The Health Assistance Partnership (HAP) works with State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) on initiatives that develop the resources and capacity necessary to deliver education and personalized counseling and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries, so they can make informed health care decisions. HAP is a project of Families USA.
Our Vision
A SHIP network fully resourced to empower Medicare beneficiaries with the tools and information they need to secure affordable health coverage and access appropriate services in order to improve their health, economic well-being and quality of life.
How Can HAP Help?
HAP has developed an array of services provided to ensure that SHIPs and their aging network partners are more knowledgeable about and effective in informing, counseling, and assisting Medicare beneficiaries. HAP's services, which are available to SHIPs and their aging network partners nationwide, center around program development and Medicare education, which includes:
- Advocacy Activities: Informing and educating key policy maker audiences about the value SHIPs provide in their communities, including the need to fully fund the SHIP network.
- Collaborative State Projects: Intensive and customized capacity-building initiatives that generate best practices which can be replicated in SHIP programs across the country.
- Conference Calls and Webinars: Interactive calls with topics that range from technical aspects of Medicare to program development issues to skills-based trainings.
- Electronic Outreach: Highlights of new tools and activities for the SHIP community via HAP’s monthly eNewsletter and weekly eAlerts, as well as updates on our website.
- Medicare Education Materials: Concise, informative, and user-friendly resources, including training manuals, slideshow presentations, and charts.
- SHIPTools: A customizable web-based management system developed by SHIPs for SHIPs to support their programmatic needs in the areas of reporting, training, and volunteer management.
- Technical Assistance: Customized responses within two business days to questions about Medicare-related inquires at SHIPhelp@hapnetwork.org.
- Trainings: Individual trainings, as well as a series of customizable training packages, covering a range of timely issues.
- Volunteer Program Development: Tools and resources to help SHIPs with volunteer program development, training, SHIP Certification, and more.
Contact HAP
