United Way of North Carolina and Unite Us Announce Partnership to Deliver Next Generation Information and Referral System Statewide

The partnership will provide an integrated statewide solution to better support vulnerable populations and track client outcomes

Today, United Way of North Carolina, which manages the statewide NC 2-1-1 information and referral system, and Unite Us, a leading care coordination platform that enables healthcare and social services to seamlessly work together, announced the launch of a joint product offering to support public, private, and nonprofit organizations addressing the social determinants of health in North Carolina.

The offering will expand NC 2-1-1’s statewide information and referral system’s community resource directory and call centers by combining them with Unite Us’ care coordination and outcome tracking software. The solution will digitally connect 2-1-1 with providers across the state, enabling public, private, and nonprofit organizations to more efficiently work together. These collaborative networks will support North Carolinians by ensuring that co-occurring needs have been met, while also gaining complete visibility into the entire health journey of each patient.

Through this joint offering, service organizations and individuals in need will have access to a growing network of community providers (clinical and non-clinical). The network of providers will facilitate collaboration through secure electronic referrals, and track every client interaction, service delivered, and outcome occurring between agencies. The integrated solution will equip health systems, health plans, government agencies and most importantly local communities across the state to effectively manage and address the social determinants of health in their community.

“Our goal is to launch a next generation information and referral system leveraging the existing NC 2-1-1 infrastructure with the Unite Us technology to provide a social infrastructure supporting healthcare and human services across the state. This new tool will connect people to resources to meet their social determinants of health needs, and track care outcomes,” says Laura Marx, President and CEO of United Way North Carolina. “We are excited to launch this first of its kind model that will transform traditional information and referral across the country. We also want to reassure North Carolinians who wish to self-serve that we will continue to offer an avenue that maintains their confidentiality “

NC 2-1-1 is the statewide information and referral system providing residents in all 100 counties access to health and social services resources. With the healthcare industry’s transition to value-based care models, leaders are looking for health systems to further integrate with community organizations, making this infrastructure critical for seamless integration of service delivery.

Traditional information and referral has been used for decades to connect individuals in need to services, but has typically fallen short when it comes to tracking outcomes. Through this combined offering, health systems and community-based organizations will seamlessly connect clients to services, track external progress and outcomes, and gain complete visibility into the full journey of each client they serve. This fully integrated system ensures no individual falls through the cracks, improves outcomes, and has the potential to significantly reduce costs across the state.

“There is a massive shift occurring within the healthcare sector, which mirrors a sea-change in government and philanthropic grants. Providers and grantees increasingly must prove their impact on patients and communities. Without capturing patient outcomes, there is no way to measure progress or meet government and fiduciary requirements.” said Taylor Justice, President and Co-Founder at Unite Us. “This partnership is a testament to NC 2-1-1’s leadership, recognizing this shift and developing the infrastructure North Carolina needs to best serve its population.”

About United Way of North Carolina:

United Way of North Carolina is the statewide organization representing North Carolina local United Way organizations and the statewide administrator of NC 2-1-1. NC 2-1-1 provides North Carolina residents in all 100 NC counties with easy access to health and human services, government services, and disaster resources. The service is free, confidential, and available 24/7/365 in most languages by simply dialing 2-1-1 or visiting nc211.org. For more information, contact Laura Zink Marx, President and CEO, at 919-834-5200 or lmarx@unitedwaync.org.

About Unite Us:

Unite Us is a veteran-led technology company that builds coordinated care networks connecting health and social service providers together. The company helps systems and communities efficiently deliver care and services by inter-connecting providers across communities, seamlessly integrating the social determinants of health into patient care. Providers across the continuum and community are able to externally refer and track every patient’s total health journey, while reporting on all tangible outcomes across a full range of services in a centralized, cohesive, and collaborative ecosystem. This social infrastructure helps communities move beyond legacy resource directories, and transform their ability to measure impact, improved health, and outcomes at scale.