Hospital assistance
Offchain
Policy · Estimate · Application
Althea
Loading Althea
Relief
Arc · USDC
caseHash · Grant proof
Relief rail
Liveness
Control
Execution
Settlement
Patient data never onchain.
No wallet required.
Althea
Loading Althea
Hospital assistance
Offchain
Policy · Estimate · Application
Relief
Arc · USDC
caseHash · Grant proof
Relief rail
LivenessControlExecutionSettlementPatient data never onchain.
No wallet required.
How Althea works
You should not need to understand hospital billing rules just to know whether help is available. Althea is two systems. Only the second one uses World, Privy, Circle, or Arc.
Two systems
System 1
Find the published policy. See whether you may qualify. Prepare the application. Track the hospital's decision. No World. No chain. No wallets.
Applicable nonprofit hospitals already maintain Financial Assistance Policies. The problem is that a patient can still miss the PDF, the income table, and the deadline. Althea turns that into a guided path. The hospital still decides.
System 2
When hospital assistance stops short, a separate charitable fund can help close part of a verified remaining balance.
World is one liveness signal against automated claims. Privy holds organizational control of the treasury. Circle executes an already approved grant. Arc records settlement in USDC. The patient never holds a wallet.
Fig. 1
AI interprets the policy. Deterministic code calculates the estimate. Humans govern the treasury. Settlement can be checked without a medical story.
A guided path from the bill you were handed to the help that may already exist. The patient never needs to manage cryptocurrency.
One case holds the hospital, the estimate, the application, the decision, and any Relief request. Nothing important lives in a side channel.
Althea reads the hospital's published Financial Assistance Policy and turns it into rules you can follow. Extract. Structure. Then a deterministic engine calculates the estimate.
The correct form, the document checklist, and the important dates sit in one place, instead of a PDF, a billing office, and a calendar.
Althea estimates whether you may qualify and shows why. The hospital makes the final eligibility and assistance determination.
If hospital assistance still leaves a verified unaffordable amount, that remaining hardship can be considered for independent charitable Relief.
Althea Relief is independent charitable aid for verified medical hardship remaining after available hospital financial assistance has been explored. Althea does not take a percentage of a patient's Relief grant.
Selfie Check is one liveness signal against automated claims on scarce Relief funds. It is never used to decide hospital assistance. The selfie is not stored.
Grant decisions follow objective program rules. Donors do not choose individual patients. Funds are limited.
The Agent Stack carries out a grant that has already been approved. It does not choose who receives help, and it does not change the rules.
Organizational treasury, policy, and approval. The Relief Agent does not get an open hand.
Settlement that can be verified without a medical record. Public proof that funds moved.
Programmable relief
Althea turns independent charitable funds into a programmable relief network. The patient path does not change. Behind it, matching programs, restricted vaults, and escrowed USDC combine on Arc.
A foundation commits capital to a 1:1 match with a per-case cap. It does not choose the patient. Privy policy keeps the wallet on Arc, USDC, and Althea contracts only.
Approved USDC is reserved against the program and provider destination, then released only after settlement confirmation. Expired reservations return to the fund.
Budget, committed, settled, reserved, and remaining balances are independently auditable. Patient evidence stays offchain.
Donors sign in with email. Circle CCTP and Gateway move USDC to Arc. Automatic match campaigns can double a gift without putting the donor on MetaMask.
Patients should not have to publish their medical story to receive help. Sensitive information stays off the rail. Grant movement can still be verified.
Check My Bill. No loans. No percentage of your hospital assistance.