AI-assisted platform gives FQHC navigators tools to prevent procedural coverage loss with first pilot underway in Indiana

Indianapolis — July 22, 2026 — Perenna Health announced today the launch of its Medicaid Coverage Navigation Platform, an intelligent operating system designed for the navigator teams working inside Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and community health centers. The company was created in collaboration with Parkview Health, the University of Notre Dame, and the 1842 Fund by Alloy Partners.

Every year roughly one in ten Medicaid enrollees lose coverage due to missed paperwork. As of February 2026, Indiana, in particular, is disenrolling Medicaid enrollees for procedural reasons at nearly 3x the national average — the highest rate in the country.

As Medicaid programs face new federal work requirements scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, that procedural burden is poised to grow exponentially. The Congressional Budget Office projects the work requirements will leave roughly 5.3 million more people uninsured by 2034 with the majority of loss due to missed paperwork, not ineligibility.

This is the problem Perenna was created to solve: keeping eligible people covered, no matter what triggers the paperwork — renewals, redeterminations, documentation, or the new work-requirement reporting. Perenna supports healthcare organizations battling to keep Medicaid navigation affordable, accessible, and efficient for smaller provider organizations and their patients.

Perenna provides self-updating worklists that surface patients at risk of losing coverage. The platform then drafts and automates outreach, collects documents and screening responses through secure SMS workflows, and tracks every case to completion. This purpose-built software allows navigators to focus on the relationships and trust that drive successful outcomes.

“Medicaid coverage navigation is some of the most important work in healthcare, but historically lacks technological support,” said Trevor Granger, CEO and co-founder of Perenna Health. “Navigators are helping families overcome complex administrative barriers every day. We built Perenna to give them the tools, visibility, and automation they need to ensure eligible patients don’t lose coverage just because a form was missed or paperwork was delayed.”

Historically, the majority of Medicaid disenrollments happened due to procedural reasons rather than eligibility changes. With new federal work requirements expected to increase administrative demands on enrollees and healthcare providers alike, Perenna aims to help health centers proactively identify coverage risks and intervene before patients lose access to care.

Perenna was launched out of the 1842 Fund and Studio in collaboration with Parkview Health and researchers at Notre Dame. Alliance Health Centers, a non-profit community health center and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alike, is serving as a co-development partner, design collaborator, and pilot site.

“Access to healthcare begins with access to health insurance,” said Nikki King, CEO of Alliance Health Centers. “When eligible patients experience disruptions in coverage, they're more likely to delay preventive care, skip medications, and seek treatment only after their conditions have worsened. Our partnership with Perenna Health is focused on strengthening the systems that help patients maintain continuous coverage, improving health outcomes, preserving high-quality care through uninterrupted access to providers and treatment, and reducing preventable healthcare spending by keeping people healthy.”

“Perenna is exactly the type of company our research co-creation studio model is designed to create,” said Mike Joslin, partner at the 1842 Fund. “We identified a critical challenge, partnered with leading healthcare organizations and researchers, and built a company around the people doing the work every day. By empowering navigators, we have the opportunity to dramatically improve healthcare access for millions of Americans.”

"Notre Dame's mission calls us to take on society's most pressing challenges, and the health of rural communities is squarely among them," said Jeffrey F. Rhoads, the John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at Notre Dame. "Rural health centers carry enormous weight for the people they serve, often with too few resources to meet the need. Our work with the 1842 Fund is about turning research and industry partnerships into ventures that strengthen communities for the long term. Perenna is a powerful example of that: technology that gives local care teams more time and capacity to do what matters most, caring for their patients."

To learn more about Perenna Health, visit perennahealth.com.

About the 1842 Fund

The 1842 Fund invests in mission-driven, advantaged startups aligned to the strategic framework of the University of Notre Dame. In addition to investing in faculty, researcher and student startups emerging from campus, the 1842 Fund funds new startups launched from the 1842 Studio, a venture studio that co-creates de novo startups alongside university researchers and industry partners. The 1842 Fund and Studio are managed by Alloy Partners and focus on building and funding ventures that address important societal challenges tied to the mission of the University of Notre Dame. For more information, visit 1842fund.com.

About Perenna Health

Perenna Health is the operating system for Medicaid coverage navigation. The company helps navigator teams at Federally Qualified Health Centers and community health centers identify patients at risk of losing coverage, automate outreach, collect documentation and manage cases through completion. Built specifically for the realities of Medicaid enrollment and renewal workflows, Perenna Health combines intelligent automation with human-centered design to help eligible patients stay connected to healthcare coverage. Perenna Health was built by the 1842 Fund and Alloy Partners in collaboration with Parkview Health and the University of Notre Dame. For more information, visit perennahealth.com.

About the University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is the leading global Catholic research university, providing a distinctive voice in higher education. Rigorously intellectual, boldly moral in orientation and firmly embracing a service ethos, Notre Dame is rated among the top institutions of higher learning in the United States and is a member of the Association of American Universities. Founded in 1842 and located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, the University advances human understanding through research, scholarship, education and creative endeavor to be a powerful force for good in the world. For more information, visit nd.edu.

About Parkview Health

Parkview Health is a nonprofit, community-focused health system serving Indiana and northwest Ohio with a mission to improve health and inspire well-being. Parkview Health includes 15 hospitals and an extensive network of primary and specialty care physicians.

Parkview demonstrates leadership in addressing healthcare affordability, renegotiating contracts with major insurers to deliver more than $1.1 billion in hospital rate reductions through 2025 and securing a new long-term agreement with Anthem that extends reduced rates through 2029. In 2025, Parkview introduced Signature Care EPO+, a direct-to-employer health plan that can save employers up to 25% compared to commercial insurance. In the state’s first review of employer-direct arrangements, Parkview’s rates fell well below required benchmarks — reinforcing Parkview’s focus on high-quality, lower-cost care.

Parkview consistently earns multiple “A” Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, is ranked among Indiana’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, recognized by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, and was the only health system to receive NRC Health’s Excellence in Experience Management award in 2025.

Media Contacts

Jen Carroll
PANBlast for Alloy Partners/1842/Perenna Health
alloypartners@panblastpr.com

Kaitlyn Hughes
Parkview Health
kaitlyn.hughes@parkview.com

Erin Fennessy
Notre Dame Research
efenness@nd.edu