He teamed up with his classmates at The Johns Hopkins University to create Healthify, a “Yelp for social services.”

Bhat and the other students—Alex Villa, Eric Conner and Dan Levenson—gained firsthand experience from volunteering at places like the Harriet Lane Clinic and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. They witnessed case managers using antiquated systems to locate organizations to help people in the community and then follow up with individuals.

“I grew up with technology, and the fact that people were trying to coordinate care without it was startling,” says Bhat.

In 2013, the students developed a platform to provide up-to-date information about social services in the community, with features to help case managers connect their patients to the services. They then consulted with personnel at The Johns Hopkins Hospital to get feedback on their product. The same year, they started a company called Healthify.

The platform, similar to Yelp, helps case managers locate social service agencies in a geographic area. Instead of a query for restaurants or hotels, users search for services, obtain current contact information and even read reviews on the entities based on user feedback. 

“It brings all of the resources together so that community health workers and case managers can connect patients with everything from child care to housing assistance—all from one place,” says Tracy Novak, manager of population health project management for Johns Hopkins HealthCare.

Today, the platform is being used in 18 states, including by more than 200 front-line staff members at Johns Hopkins HealthCare. Healthify charges a subscription fee for each user on a monthly basis.