Social care is a complex and rapidly changing landscape. Many people across the US have unmanaged medical conditions, face challenging social and personal barriers, and have fallen through the cracks despite the massive investments that healthcare organizations and government agencies have made in people, technology, and outreach. 

The Cost of Falling Through the Cracks

• + 59% total cost of care
• + 79% inpatient hospital admissions
• + 100% emergency department visits

Source: 2022 Impact Report

People with the most challenging social and healthcare needs usually reach out to the organizations and community groups they trust the most. Being able to request support in a secure, reliable, and efficient way makes sure those individuals can access the services and support they need, no matter which door they open.

The Power of an Assistance Request Form

That’s where Unite Us comes in. We partner with provider, health plan, government, and nonprofit organizations across the nation to launch Assistance Request Forms (ARF) that help individuals get connected to social care. 

How It Works

An Assistance Request Form is a public-facing form that enables people to quickly request the services they need, such as food support, housing, or employment assistance. In the form, they can securely share their own or a family member’s basic contact information in addition to the type of need, a short description of the need,  and their consent for this information to be shared with a secure network of providers who can help. The ARF is available in 35 languages to ensure that people can get connected to the care they need as seamlessly as possible.  

After the ARF is submitted, there are two options for what happens next: 

1. Direct response from community-based organizations (CBOs) – If CBOs on the Unite Us Platform have opted to directly respond to ARFs, then the submission will be sent to a recipient organization’s dashboard. At the receiving organization, the relevant users will be notified of the inbound requests for services, and they can reach out to the person directly to provide support.
2. Support from Unite Us Care Coordination Team – Another option that organizations can take is to loop in the Unite Us Care Coordination team. The Unite Us Care Coordination team serves as social care coordinators by identifying and executing appropriate client referrals, taking the onus off of in-house organization administrators. The Care Coordination team will reach out to the person who submitted the ARF form to gather more information as needed, and send a referral through the Unite Us Platform to a local organization that can help. 

Ultimately, in both scenarios, the person who submitted the ARF is seamlessly and securely connected to the care they need. 

Get Started 

Interested in learning more about how Assistance Request Forms can further your SDoH strategy? Request a demo to get started today. 

Request a demo

The post The Power of Assistance Request Forms in Connecting People to Social Care appeared first on uniteus.com.

With our proven track record of successfully facilitating secure closed-loop referrals and social care payments in New York and other Medicaid waiver states, Unite Us stands ready to support this important initiative.

Key Insights on Social Care Components

Social Care Networks (SCNs): 

SCNs, or contracted entities in each of the State’s nine regions, will be charged with establishing a network of social services and community providers to deliver eligible Medicaid beneficiaries with HRSN screenings and referral services. The State will reimburse selected HRSN services related to housing, food, and transportation.

Managed Care Plans: 

Managed care plans will contract with SCNs to deliver the selected HRSN services through two tiers of benefits. Level 1 services will be available to all Medicaid beneficiaries and will include referrals to existing public programs that are separate from the newly authorized HRSN services; Level 2 services will be provided to targeted beneficiaries who meet certain criteria. Subsequently, MCOs will be required to report data in order to evaluate the utilization and effectiveness of the HRSN services on health outcomes and equity of care.

Hospitals:  

Safety net hospitals located in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Westchester Counties can apply to participate in a Medicaid Hospital Global Budget Initiative that aims to help safety net hospitals transition to a global budget system. This initiative is designed to empower selected hospitals to prioritize population health and enhance quality of care in order to stabilize their financial situations and advance accountability and health equity.

Together, Driving Impact in New York

Building upon our ongoing collaborations with valued partners and community networks in New York, we are ready to deliver the solutions needed to successfully achieve the goals of the waiver while establishing a sustainable infrastructure for the continuous delivery of social care.

Leveraging Our Experience with State Medicaid Programs

We are proud to have established a reputation as the leading software solution for Medicaid programs addressing HRSNs across the country. Our cross-sector collaboration tools support a no-wrong-door system of social care, produce comprehensive insights to measure social need and community capacity at scale, and enable government leaders to strategically shift investments upstream to community-based partners, maximizing health benefits and better managing government spending. Like many Medicaid leaders, we know that social care coordination will improve outcomes, so we built our tools to collect structured social care data using a longitudinal care record. This allows states to measure real-time network performance and conduct integrated or longitudinal program evaluations over time, which will be critical in New York.

With networks in 44 states and partners leading the way in Medicaid transformation across the country, we’ve learned a lot about how we can support this critical work. Here are just a few examples:

We’re proud to support partners across the country in leveraging our solutions to support Medicaid waiver initiatives and advancing whole-person care. Interested in learning more about Unite Us solutions?

Get in Touch

The post Unite Us Celebrates the Approval of the New York State 1115 Medicaid Waiver: Improving Access to Care and Advancing Health Equity Together appeared first on uniteus.com.

“Hear Her”

Describing her prenatal care experience, Tonjanic, a Houston mom with twins stated, “They didn’t ask me how was I doing? How did I feel? Did I have any concerns? And that was a concern for me.” After experiencing a previous pregnancy loss, Tonjanic was placed on bed rest at 13 weeks and had to quit her job. She reported feeling “trapped” by her circumstances and anxious about her babies’ health. And like so many pregnant people in the United States (US) she felt her voice, her needs, and her priorities were not heard by the providers caring for her during her pregnancy.

In both clinical care and public health policy in the U.S. there remains a lack of recognition of lived experience as expertise. In other words, policies and medical decision making are often made for and about individuals and communities without their input. At the same time, inequities in maternal and infant mortality and birth outcomes have persisted for decades indicating that, simply put, we’re missing the mark. To address maternal and child health inequities, a focus on the importance of social and systemic drivers of maternal and child health inequities, grounded within an ecological framework that prioritizes lived expertise and community voice, is needed.

As more of the healthcare industry shifts focus toward community solutions to improve health outcomes (e.g. cross-sector collaboration and coordinated care) it has become clear that much of this work follows a top-down approach, perpetuating power dynamics that place “experts” above “community.” This dynamic makes it difficult to achieve broad and inclusive partnerships, as power imbalances often preclude trust. In this commentary, we will share strategies and early lessons learned from a unique non-profit-private partnership between March of Dimes’ Collective Impact initiatives and Unite Us’ cross-sector collaboration software, to help answer some of these questions.

March of Dimes Collective Impact Initiatives and Unite Us Partnership

March of Dimes is a national nonprofit leader in maternal and infant health. Their Local Collective Impact Initiatives mobilize cross-sector organizations and community members locally to address the underlying challenges impacting families while deploying strategies to improve rates of preterm birth and maternal mortality. Currently deployed across six communities in the US, this work is ongoing and follows the Tamarack Institute’s Collective Impact (CI) phases.

The March of Dimes partnered with Unite Us, a leading technology company that enables community-based organizations the ability to communicate with each other and local service providers to improve whole-person health and well-being, to provide the technical infrastructure to support care coordination for its Collective Impact Initiatives. In doing so, both organizations discovered they have similar approaches to engaging in community-based work.

Ecological Framework to Drive Systems Change

One of those approaches is employing an ecological framework that recognizes that individuals navigate between multiple, interconnected social, cultural, and economic contexts. These contexts are considered when developing multilevel community based interventions, and the literature consistently favors this approach. Integrating an ecological perspective of the community context, and a commitment to work in partnership with community members, groups, and settings in the local community, helps researchers and public health practitioners implement successful health promotion interventions. As the health care industry looks toward multilevel community-based interventions to drive better health outcomes, we are sharing those strategies that have proven successful for our respective organizations, both within and beyond the current Collective Impact partnership.

Strategies for Successful Community-Based Interventions

First, Listen. Spend time understanding history and context. March of Dimes’ Collective Impact Directors and Unite Us Community Engagement teams are afforded dedicated time to explore historical context and perspectives from community members, leaders, and organizations. Since much of our health is informed by structural and institutional policies, community beliefs, and cultural values, community interventions require local policy research, review of past and current “community health needs assessments,” and most importantly, conversations with community members (those closest to the issue). You cannot build community trust and ownership without clear insight into both the strengths and assets of a community and the historical barriers they face

Make a long term commitment and remain patient. This work takes years, not months. By its very nature, maternal health work is intergenerational and requires an intergenerational commitment to see real and lasting change. Simply “dropping” a program or tool into a community, then walking away, cannot be successful on its own. Communities must be co-owners to carry the work forward.

Center Equity. Begin with a shared vision that represents all engaged partners. It is also critical when engaging in community work to intentionally shift the balance of power, placing community members in leadership positions, co-designing interventions and strategies at every step, and recognizing the need to offer stipends, honorariums, or other support (e.g. child care and transportation) that will enable authentic and accessible community participation.

Create a Culture of Learning. We don’t know what we don’t know. This work is about being open, actively seeking new information, and iteratively adapting. A core value for both March of Dimes and Unite Us is to lean into hard conversations. To do this effectively, March of Dimes Collective Impact Directors receive Results Based Facilitation (RBF) training to help them learn skills around effective meeting facilitation, developing meeting agendas to move teams to action, and navigating through conflict.

Improve equitable access to data and information. Understanding how many people are engaged, enter services or receive a social or health care referral is important information. However, if we are striving to see population level change we need to gain a better understanding of the quality of care and services provided, the outcomes of those services, and visibility into the entire care journey for each individual.

The Merits of Embedding Program Evaluation: Implications for Program Evaluation

Evaluation as a component to any public health intervention is perhaps as important to its success as program planning and design. Traditionally, program evaluation has been seen as an outside and objective activity, with evaluators positioned as experts and final decision-makers. Both March of Dimes and Unite Us use a developmental evaluation approach wherein the evaluator is seen as a part of the project team, incorporated into program design and implementation, and data are collectively gathered and interpreted as the program is iteratively modified. Program teams and community members, in addition to the evaluator, play a role in evaluation goal-setting and recommendations, with an emphasis on learning, innovation, change, and power-sharing. This is in line with the community-engaged approach outlined above, and is part of a paradigm shift in the broader evaluation community; moving from seeing evaluation as an outside, objective, bias-free activity, to understanding that “evaluations cannot be culture free” and traditional definitions of validity and rigor center dominant cultures.

Early Learnings

While we see strong value in community-centered models to address health inequities, we also recognize that implementing community-led systems change is not without its challenges. The strategies outlined in this commentary are meant to remind organizations, health systems, and providers that in order to spur and sustain improved intergenerational health, the work must begin locally. In the context of maternal and child health, this is perhaps even more critical as parenting and the role of “mother” places unique demands on individuals and their health. Their experiences, perspectives, and priorities must be front and center at all stages of program planning, implementation, and evaluation, to ensure those expected to benefit from the program, are co-designers.

Interested in learning more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization?

Get in Touch

The post A Collective Impact Model to Advance Maternal Health Equity appeared first on uniteus.com.

Implementing Medicaid transformation can be challenging but, when executed correctly, has the power to drive real results in both outcomes and cost. 

Across the country, states are prioritizing investments in community-based care and population health management strategies to address social drivers of health (SDoH) that negatively impact members and exacerbate program costs. 

The post Powering Medicaid Transformation Webinar appeared first on uniteus.com.

Across the country, communities are facing significant challenges in meeting the growing needs for behavioral health care services. Healthcare and community-based organizations alike have seen that they cannot tackle this surge in demand alone.

In this webinar, discover the strategic and coordinated efforts that champion a comprehensive and proactive approach to mental wellness—leaving no individual or community behind.

You’ll learn: 

• The pivotal role of community-based organizations in enhancing mental health care delivery
• The importance of building networks that embrace diversity and cultural sensitivity
• Strategies for seamless collaboration between healthcare organizations and local community partners

The post Improving Behavioral Health: A Community Effort Webinar appeared first on uniteus.com.

Addressing social needs is now at the forefront of policy and industry innovations to deliver whole-person, high-quality care.

This webinar explores new incentives and requirements for healthcare organizations to integrate social needs screenings and interventions in their care model. Plus, discover lessons learned from pioneering efforts that have advanced our understanding of how to address social needs to improve health outcomes.

The post How Addressing Social Needs Will Transform Healthcare Webinar appeared first on uniteus.com.

More than 600,000 people come home from prison every year. With a job and support, they have a chance to succeed. This is the mission of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a national partner of Unite Us. CEO provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services to individuals who have recently returned home from incarceration.

Unite Us shares CEO’s vision that everyone, regardless of whether they have had involvement with the justice system, should have the preparation and support needed to find a job and stay connected to the labor force. We believe that all individuals deserve the chance to shape a stronger future for themselves, their family, and their communities.

The Unite Us partnership has greatly strengthened how CEO’s program has been able to assist their participants, including by successfully integrating our software with their Salesforce instance. This integration has enabled CEO to work more efficiently and connect program participants across the country to community partners seamlessly. These direct connections to community-based organizations, agencies, and programs have helped CEO better support participants in navigating the barriers they face during their reentry process.

For this series, we asked the CEO team about our work together and their vision of how cross-sector collaboration creates lasting change for justice-involved individuals.

As we reflect on a decade bringing sectors together through technology to ensure people’s needs are met, what do you think has changed the most for your organization since the start of our partnership?

Since the beginning of our partnership, CEO has continually appreciated how technology can help us more comprehensively support people returning home from incarceration. It is critical we provide returning citizens with digital skills training, facilitate housing support, make referrals to mental health professionals, and foster connections to other local supportive services. Our partnership with Unite Us has strengthened our ability to meet these needs at scale—which is no small feat given that CEO operates in 31 local communities.

How does CEO think about or approach collaboration with other sectors? What are the benefits to your participants?

Because CEO focuses on the intersection of economic mobility and criminal legal system reform, our work would not be possible without strong partnerships. First and foremost, we rely heavily on collaboration with community-based partners in all CEO locations, especially organizations led by BIPOC individuals and individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. This ensures our model complements and strengthens the network of support that has long helped people return home successfully to their local communities. We also work with local and national employers who value hiring people with convictions and investing in them as high-impact talent. And finally, we rely on government agencies. This includes probation and parole, who can identify people who might benefit from CEO’s services, as well as state departments of transportation, housing authorities, and other government stakeholders who collaborate with CEO to provide participants with transitional jobs. Partners like Unite Us allow us to focus on our strengths and work more efficiently to support CEO participants and advance our overall mission.

Are there any upcoming programs or initiatives related to drivers of health and community health at CEO that you are excited about?

Food security is absolutely essential to individual and community health. This is why we’re supporting the introduction of bipartisan federal legislation that ensures no one has to choose between job training and putting food on the table. Under current law, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients risk losing their food security because of temporary wages they earn in job training or work-based learning programs. The newly introduced Training and Nutrition Stability Act (TNSA), H.R. 3087, aims to remedy this “catch-22.”  The bill would allow them to maintain their nutrition supports—leading to better training opportunities, permanent employment, and food security. CEO led the development of this 2023 legislation, which has the support of over 100 organizations. CEO has been proud to work alongside Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Alma Adams (D-NC), and Marcus Molinaro (R-NY) to make this change to the Farm Bill so that thousands of justice-impacted individuals get the support they need during their reentry journey. 

Looking another 10 years into the future, what is your biggest hope for cross-sector collaboration to improve community health?

Of the many risks revealed by the COVID crisis, we are hopeful that there is greater attention paid to the impact of financial well-being on community health. We know that returning home from incarceration presents a financial struggle to hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Typically, people are released from incarceration with almost nonexistent support: anywhere from $0 to a few hundred dollars in “gate money.” Most returning citizens are ineligible for many safety-net programs or face disparate barriers to accessing them. During COVID, these challenges were compounded by employer layoffs and strained social safety nets. 

CEO worked to meet the increased immediate needs for people returning home by setting up something new—an ambitious cash transfer program that ultimately distributed more than $24 million to over 10,000 people. Recipients received amounts ranging from $1,000 to $2,750 in their first few months post-release, which provided a substantially enhanced safety net to support their reentry. CEO envisions a future where this kind of cash assistance is a permanent feature of people’s reentry, and we are advocating for legislation toward that goal. We feel strongly that giving people the right resources promotes autonomy, economic resilience, and healthier communities.

What thoughts would you share with Unite Us leadership as they look out on the next 10 years?

As technology continues to advance and create economic growth, it’s important that disadvantaged community members are not excluded from these gains. Low-skilled workers often are less likely to prioritize building new skills and learning new technologies as they juggle other priorities with limited support– this is especially important given the rapid evolution of generative AI. It has been essential for CEO’s program to emphasize digital skills that help CEO participants catch up on the rapid technological changes that occurred during their incarceration. Even someone who serves a short sentence will come home to significant shifts in technology. And for those who serve longer sentences, these adjustments to technology can be even more jarring. We believe this is a signal and call to action to revitalize how we connect justice-impacted workers to the jobs of the future. We will also need to listen to directly impacted people about economic barriers they face due to automation, artificial intelligence, and other technological disruptions. We look forward to partnering with Unite Us in this mission over the next decade.

Learn more about the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO).

Interested in learning more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization?

Get in Touch

The post Better Together: Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) appeared first on uniteus.com.

Health Alliance for the Uninsured is a community collaborative that makes quality health care available to Oklahoma’s underserved, uninsured, and under-insured populations. Partners include physicians, safety-net clinics, hospitals, and other public and private partners. The HAU Healthcare Services Navigation Program uses Unite Us for patient referrals, both within their free and charitable clinic network and with other community agencies that meet basic needs. The Navigation Program has seen a significant increase in referrals over the past several months following a recent partnership with a local hospital system. They are leveraging these recent successes to expand partnerships with other local hospital systems.

One Client’s Story

Transportation is always a challenge for HAU’s patients, but the organization has found a great solution. The Navigation Team has recently started using Uber Health to ensure patients can get to partner clinics for their appointments. They now offer free rides for any new patients in need of transportation to access care. This transportation assistance removes a major barrier to health care for so many struggling Oklahomans.

The following patient story highlights how Unite Us is instrumental in all HAU programs, with every HAU client. The HAU Bi-Lingual Navigator, Diego, recently received a call from an individual who learned about HAU from their booth at a health fair. The patient needed primary care services and hadn’t seen a provider in a very long time.

After speaking to Diego and providing their consent, the patient was referred to a clinic through Unite Us. When the patient arrived at the clinic, Diego happened to be there assisting with HAU’s Prescription Assistance Program. The patient spoke only Spanish and didn’t have an interpreter, so they needed assistance communicating with the provider.

Diego quickly stepped up to translate the patient’s healthcare needs and, in turn, translate the provider’s findings, recommendations, and treatment plans. During the appointment, the provider recommended that the patient see a specialist. Diego helped the patient complete an application for a Care Connection specialty referral in Spanish.

Through the Unite Us Platform and Diego’s help, the patient got connected to the basic and specialty care they needed—what a success! This story shows the continuity of care HAU’s patients receive, and their dedication to closing the loop. They will always go above and beyond to help their patients.

For this series, we asked the HAU team about our work together and their vision of how cross-sector collaboration creates lasting change for pregnant and parenting people.

As we reflect on a decade bringing sectors together through technology to ensure people’s needs are met, what do you think has changed the most for your organization since the start of our partnership?

Unite Us has enabled HAU to track the outcomes and progress of patients receiving services from HAU and our free and charitable partner clinics. This has been a critical turning point for our Healthcare Services Navigation Program. Using the closed-loop referral system has allowed our navigators to ensure every individual who requests services is tracked until a successful outcome has been achieved.  We can also quickly provide comprehensive data reports and statistics to our supporters and financial partners.

How does HAU think about or approach collaboration with other sectors? What are the benefits to your patients?

At its core, HAU is a convener—connecting organizations, programs, and people with similar missions to maximize impact within central Oklahoma’s healthcare safety-net network. Our work creates opportunities for partnerships that benefit our entire community, especially those citizens who are most at risk and facing difficult circumstances. Most recently, we are working alongside the Regional Food Bank to help free and charitable clinics create food distribution programs so that no children go hungry during the summer months. Additionally, the Regional Food Bank is now including information about HAU and the services we offer in each of the food boxes they distribute, which increases awareness of HAU programs among the populations that need our services the most.

Are there any upcoming programs or initiatives related to drivers of health and community health at HAU that you are excited about?

This year, over 300,000 Oklahomans are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage (OHCA) due to the expiration of the COVID public health emergency (PHE). The increased burden on our healthcare safety net will be massive, and HAU is working closely with state and local healthcare leaders—and our clinic network—to prepare for the surge in demand. HAU Navigators have already seen a major uptick in calls from newly uninsured Oklahomans seeking healthcare services, and the Unite Us system is enabling us to ensure that every new client can find a new primary care home at one of our clinic partners.

Looking another 10 years into the future, what is your biggest hope for cross-sector collaboration to improve community health?

The challenges of our time—health care, education, poverty—are complex; each challenge impacts and intensifies the others. It is increasingly evident that these drivers of health are intertwined, and we need to address these challenges utilizing holistic strategies and solutions. Successfully meeting the needs of marginalized individuals will happen not with piecemeal solutions, but through a coordinated, intentional effort made by multiple stakeholders who share a common vision. Public-private partnerships will be critical to successfully relieving the suffering of those who are living on the edges of society and improving the health of the next generation of Oklahomans.  

A great example of this holistic approach is our effort to connect our clients with other services and organizations that address drivers of health. HAU currently has two embedded community health workers who use Unite Us to facilitate referrals for clients who need help with food, housing, child care, and other basic needs. Unite Us enables us to make these referrals seamlessly and track the outcomes of those referrals. For instance, we had one patient whose daughter and granddaughter had both recently moved in with her. After meeting our client’s healthcare needs, we were able to connect her daughter with a food pantry and secure a backpack and school supplies for her granddaughter. 

What thoughts would you share with Unite Us leadership as they look out on the next 10 years?

As alliances between nonprofit, government, philanthropic, and business sectors work together to address critical issues, we hope our shared approach upholds the dignity of the individuals we serve. We are proud to be a Unite Us champion, and we consistently encourage other organizations in our safety net community to join Unite Us so that we can achieve our shared goals.

“I believe we are setting a high standard nationally on how to utilize Unite Us for connecting individuals to healthcare first, and then other resources as needed. We are so grateful for our partnership with Unite Us as we work together to positively transform our community.” – Jeanean Yanish Jones, PhD(c), MA, CFRE Executive Director, HAU

Learn more about Health Alliance for the Uninsured.

Interested in learning more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization?

Get in Touch

The post Better Together: How Health Alliance for the Uninsured is Safeguarding the Health and Well-Being of Uninsured Patients appeared first on uniteus.com.

Andy Slavitt was President Biden’s White House Senior Advisor for the COVID-19 response. He is currently a member of a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) working group on public health. He’s led many of the nation’s most important healthcare initiatives, serving as President Obama’s head of Medicare and Medicaid and overseeing the turnaround, implementation, and defense of the Affordable Care Act. Slavitt is the “outsider’s insider,” serving in leading private and nonprofit roles in addition to his government services. He is founder and Board Chair Emeritus of United States of Care, a national, nonprofit health advocacy organization, and he’s a founding partner of Town Hall Ventures, a healthcare firm that invests in underrepresented communities. 

In 2019, Andy became an investor to Unite Us through Town Hall Ventures. As Town Hall Ventures explained, “Unite Us represents a rare opportunity to invest in a high-quality network asset that is well-positioned to address the unmet social determinants of health at scale through vertical integration of healthcare, government, and social service organizations.”

For this series, we asked Andy about our work together and his vision of how cross-sector collaboration creates lasting change for our country.

As we reflect on a decade bringing sectors together through technology to ensure people’s needs are met, what do you think has changed the most for public health in that time?

Ten years ago, there was no public health technology to speak of. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were just getting rolled out, and there were certainly no standards to communicate. Fax machines and paper checks and what information people had sat on hard drives. Today we have a playing field. We have the Cloud, we have fintech and smartphones, we have virtual visits and remote patient monitoring, and we have companies like Unite Us stitching things together so that we can finally add value to people’s lives.

What do you think about collaboration with other sectors to impact health outcomes?

Most companies want to come into healthcare and “disrupt” when really what they need to come in and do is radically collaborate. Too many companies draw a picture of the healthcare system with themselves at the center and everybody else revolving around them. If you did it the right way and if the person actually was in the center of their healthcare needs, we would build a support structure, common goals, and resources around them. People should be the reason we use to get out of our silos.

What impact are you most hopeful for as a result of our partnership?

Everywhere I look, people would benefit from Unite Us. They don’t always know it. But they know the problem they have. Coordinating services, building networks, and tapping into how people live instead of just their healthcare needs is the solution. I have seen states, service organizations, health systems, and entire communities transformed when Unite Us becomes part of their world.

What programs or initiatives related to drivers of health and community health are you most excited about? What’s on the cutting edge that you think will have the greatest impact in the next decade?

It’s clear that we need to house people in a stable way so that they have a chance at building meaningful pathways to a happy life, and that includes their health. Allowing people to accumulate savings and get a little breathing room is the number one thing we can do for people—particularly those who come from generations of poverty and whose families never had the chance to own a home and escape poverty. Put some money in the pockets of people who don’t have much, and it will do wonders for their health.

What is your biggest hope for cross-sector collaboration to improve community health?

We have an excellent evidence base for even the most complex illnesses. Medication-assisted treatment, long lasting injectables, continuous glucose monitors, mammograms. The hard part has always been engaging people up front to understand their needs and make services and resources available to them in a manner that shows them we understand how they live and the issues present in their daily life. It takes the proverbial village—connecting to people where they work, where they live, and where they play. The good news is there are resources and answers out there. The challenge is to have them reach people whenever and wherever that need identifies itself.

What thoughts would you share with Unite Us leadership as they look out on the next 10 years?

You’ve accomplished so much. You’ve taught the world what’s possible and yet we know you’re only scratching the surface. In many ways, that’s an ideal place to sit. Knowing you’re on the right track and seeing all the potential for more. It won’t be easy. Transforming things never is. But the payoff is huge. Think of one person who didn’t have to suffer, and then you can get a good night’s sleep knowing the world worked just a little bit better for them on that day thanks to Unite Us. Now imagine that happening every minute of every day. All over the country. 

The more essential Unite Us becomes, the better off we are as a country.

For more information about Town Hall Ventures and Andy, visit https://www.townhallventures.com/andy-slavitt.

Interested in learning more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization?

Get in Touch 

The post Better Together: Andy Slavitt’s Reflection on Radical Collaboration appeared first on uniteus.com.