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.

Building Successful County Partnerships

Here at Unite Us, we’re proud to partner with counties doing incredible work for their constituents across the country. With rapidly growing partnerships in 44 states, we’ve driven change in all types of communities, from the smallest towns to the largest cities. Our policy team members, made up of former government employees with decades of experience in public service, serve as thought partners to county leaders looking for new, effective ways to get things done. Our cross-sector collaboration tools empower counties to leverage their full resources, understand community-level data, and transparently manage their funding. Our local, community engagement team members can amplify the work of public-sector and nonprofit employees. In the 10 years since Unite Us was founded, we’ve learned a lot about how county governments can best prepare county partnerships and programs for success. From community collaboration mechanisms to using data to measure success, here are our lessons learned on how Unite Us can best support county governments looking to get things done.  

1. Leveraging Community Partners to Ensure Collaboration

Local governments are home to incredible community-based organizations (CBOs) that support their constituents on a daily basis. From food pantries and transportation providers to housing shelters and workforce training programs, CBOs are trusted sources of support in the community. Too often, CBOs are underfunded and forced to operate in silos. As a result, the services they provide are fragmented and may fail to meet whole-person needs. Government can be the convenor, but often needs support with execution. That’s where we come in: Unite Us’ software bridges gaps by allowing CBOs, health systems, and governments to securely communicate and coordinate with each other to achieve shared goals. 

Community transformation is possible, but only when all parties are singing from the same sheet of music. While this is true for any type of health or social care transformation, it’s especially relevant for counties looking to shift toward a more holistic way to address residents’ needs. In those cases, it’s critical that local governments play a leading role in connecting health systems with social services providers to quickly and efficiently deliver services to constituents in need. 

2. Managing Federal, State, and Private Funding to Ease Administrative Burden

Local governments often manage complex, braided funding streams. From federal and state grants to philanthropy dollars to opioid abatement funds, managing the specific reporting and billing constraints that come along with these funds can place additional burdens on already overworked staff. Unite Us provides the technological infrastructure to manage different funding streams to ease the administrative burden and maximize impact. We facilitate social care funding through our platform by providing data and up-to-date reporting on where the funding is going and how it is being used. 

3. Driving Community Engagement Toward Better Health Outcomes

No matter the ZIP code, we know that providing children and families with the resources they need to succeed is critical to the overall health and well-being of any community. What sets Unite Us apart is that our team members aren’t just assigned to support counties from a remote office building somewhere—they live in the communities they serve and are deeply engaged in community work. 

When a local government joins a network of coordinated care, constituents of all backgrounds benefit from this local perspective. As a true partner to this work, Unite Us can help you: 

• Facilitate connections to a variety of healthcare and care coordination programs, including mobile clinics and health education programs. 
• Address rural transportation issues by establishing partnerships with transportation services such as taxi or bus services.
• Leverage paramedics and other community health workers to provide preventive services for those at risk of poorer health outcomes. 

4. Providing Data and Measurement Tools to Track the Success of Public-Private Partnerships

No partnership can be effective unless all parties involved agree on common goals and have access to the same data and measurement tools used to track progress. Often, government agencies track data differently than the CBOs they work with, or even other agencies in their state or county. As a result, it can be incredibly challenging—if not impossible—to measure the effectiveness of any intervention or program. 

When counties join a Unite Us network, they gain access to a data collection and tracking system that is responsive to their specific progress needs and allows all partners to evaluate outcomes the same way. Shared measurement and data is the key that gives leaders the information they need to tailor programs to maximize efficiency and amplify their impact. 

5. Enabling Whole-Person Service Delivery

Counties have the agility and flexibility to drive innovative solutions that are harder to achieve at state or federal levels. Increasingly, counties are adopting a whole-person model of health care that prioritizes social drivers of health (SDoH) just as much as the physical symptoms people experience. By connecting healthcare providers with government agencies and CBOs, Unite Us breaks down silos that threaten to derail whole-person care. And with our closed-loop referral system, leaders can have confidence that a patient’s SDoH needs are actually being addressed and treated. 

No matter what challenges you want to address in your county, Unite Us is ready to provide the technology and expertise to make it happen. Reach out to us today to learn more. 

Get in Touch

The post County Partnerships: Lessons Learned from Ten Years Working with County Governments appeared first on uniteus.com.

Our goal? To provide a space where you can cultivate more meaningful connections with the people who care about your cause, gather new ideas and insights for scaling your impact, and help you build a stronger foundation no matter what’s next for you and your organization.

Still not convinced? Here are just some (of the many) reasons why it’s worth your time to join us at One Continuum Community.

1. There’s something for everyone.

With four different panels and 14 different speakers, you’re guaranteed to find a wide range of thought-provoking discussions, actionable best practices, and practical takeaways from your industry peers. Scope out your favorite sessions and build a customized learning track ahead of time to make sure you don’t miss a thing! Interested in what you missed at previous summits? Read about what we learned from the 2022 One Continuum Community Summit.

2. Celebrate your impact.

Each community knows their needs best, and you are the expert of your community’s strengths and capacities. While building relationships and strategies to improve health takes time and intention, sharing those experiences with others can inspire change and spark new ideas. Join the conversation and let us know what’s working for your organization, community, and network.

3. Make surprise connections.

What better way to expand your network (and your skill set) than to attend an event with other organizations who are champions in community outreach and committed to making an impact together?

4. Tap into fresh ideas and new perspectives.

We have some really incredible partners, and we’re excited to hand the virtual microphone over for some of them to celebrate their successes, share their insights, and lead important conversations. Whether it’s learning more about the power of collaboration or how your organization can better prepare for future funding opportunities, our hope is that you’ll leave with plenty of practical takeaways that you can bring back to the office.

5. It’s free!

The One Continuum Community experience is free and open to anyone looking to have a positive impact in their own community. You don’t have to leave your house, wait in line, get on a plane, or do anything at all other than open up your laptop in the comfort of your own home or office.

And make sure you don’t summit alone! Share this opportunity with your network or with anyone interested in learning how organizations are uniting to celebrate and inspire change.

What are you waiting for? Join us at the next One Continuum Community.

To watch replays of the discussions on-demand and learn more, visit our One Continuum page.

Watch Now

The post Five Reasons Why You Should Attend One Continuum Community Summit 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.

Our CEO and Co-Founder Dan Brillman recently had the opportunity to lead an exciting conversation with some of our local United Way and 211 partners at our webinar, Partnering with Purpose: How Unite Us and 211s Are Collaborating to Build Innovative Models of Care. Panelists included Dr. Pamela Schwalb, Chief Operating Officer at United Way of the Midlands; Naomi Lett, President and CEO at United Way Association of South Carolina; and Larry Warner, Chief Impact and Equity Officer at United Way of Rhode Island.

Building on the momentum of National 211 Day, which took place in early February, and the important work 211 does every day of the year, our goal was simple: Shine a light on our partnerships and celebrate the impact of our collaboration in communities across the U.S.

We’re Better Together

Our goal has always been to build off of the great work already taking place in communities, working alongside leaders and existing infrastructure to discover the ways in which we can all do better for our neighbors, our families, and our friends in need.

Recognizing local 211s and United Ways for their leadership and for their extensive knowledge of resources, gaps in services, and community needs are just some of the many reasons we sought them out as partners in the early days of our work. When asked what about the opportunity to partner with Unite Us brought each of their organizations to the table, each panelist had something different to say.

Larry Warner explained that United Way of Rhode Island saw collaboration with Unite Us as an “opportunity to be transformational” and to leverage their connectivity with the community and their relationships with various state agencies to have a greater impact throughout the state. Serving as the most comprehensive database of resources in Rhode Island—with over 5,000 agencies representing roughly 11,000 services—this transformation is clearly evident in the innovative work taking place in the state today. 

When asked what prompted United Way of South Carolina to partner with Unite Us, Naomi Lett emphasized the importance of maintaining a community-first approach to everything they do, pointing out,

“The Unite Us Platform allows folks to sit at the table who aren’t always invited.”

Without this increased representation from key leaders and communities, organizations are forced to solve problems with assumptions rather than realities, a barrier that our partnership in South Carolina has helped the community overcome.

Later on in the hour, Dr. Pamela Schwalb highlighted how the United Way of the Midlands initially thought, “If we built it, they would come.”

She went on to explain that this did not happen overnight, but rather through having multiple one-on-one conversations with local partners to convey the value of Unite Us and slowly build what is now a flourishing partnership. As they celebrate their 100-year anniversary this year, Midlands is excited to build on these efforts and continue making an impact.

While each of their answers was different, one thing was clear: Our mutual, unwavering commitment to collaboration and building strong, equitable communities where everyone can thrive only further proves why we should be doing this important work together. 

Rising Tides Raise All Boats

Complex problems require comprehensive solutions. Whether it’s building a framework for resource-sharing programs or providing statewide community care coordination, each approach must account for the nuances of each community and the strengths of each partner.

When discussing what unique assets Unite Us brings to the table for local 211s and United Ways, our partners were quick to highlight that the Unite Us Platform gives them access to the data they need to have a more complete picture of the people they aim to serve.

Panelist Larry Warner added to this sentiment:

“You can’t change what you don’t measure.”

He went on to state that the data made available to United Way of Rhode Island through the Unite Us Platform has been instrumental in helping “inform both our own advocacy and policy recommendations, as well as give voice to what we’re hearing from the community and trends that we’re seeing in real time.”

On a similar note, Naomi Lett underscored the importance of data in improving United Way of South Carolina’s ability to “incentivize innovation and innovative partnerships in the state.” Access to longitudinal data, rather than data that only represents a singular point in time, goes much further when informing policy and advocacy strategies across the state.

Sharing a similar perspective, Dr. Pamela Schwalb described how the bidirectional data-sharing capabilities unique to Unite Us’ partnership with United Way of the Midlands has been instrumental in helping expand their network of partners and significantly increasing the number of resources they can connect individuals with in their communities.

In each of these examples, the Unite Us Platform complements rather than competes with the strengths and needs of each partnership. Naomi Lett said it best:

“[Identify] the areas that you have strength and leverage those as much as possible because rising tides raise all boats when it comes to the health outcomes for the people in our communities.”

Capacity Over Competition

In the spirit of continuing to grow our networks through cross-sector collaboration, we asked our panelists what they would say to other local 211s and United Ways who are considering partnering with Unite Us. Larry Warner emphasized the importance of taking time to understand each community firsthand, noting that

“Partnerships can only proceed at the speed of trust.”

Uncovering the strengths and limitations of each organization ultimately improves our ability to engage in partnerships that are mutually beneficial and capable of having a collective impact. This process cannot be overlooked and instead requires thoughtful conversations, continuous iteration, and celebrating progress—no matter how small.

When asked what advice she would give to other local 211s and United Ways, Naomi Lett said,

“There’s a footprint that 211 has in the community that’s really augmented by the capacity that the Unite Us system brings.” This focus on capacity has enabled each organization to take a closer look at their unique strengths and bring them to the table for a more effective and equitable partnership in South Carolina. 

Dr. Pamela Schwalb rounded out the conversation by reflecting on the experiences of some of the community navigators at United Way of Midlands, stating that they’ve enjoyed the opportunity to “feel like they’re part of something bigger.” By extending the capacity and responsibility of their team, this ongoing collaboration has led to more enhanced relationships and greater visibility into whether needs are being fully met across the region.

Partnering with Purpose

It comes as no surprise that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to partnering in the community. And if this dynamic conversation has taught us anything, it’s that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of the many types of partnerships our organizations can engage in and the impact we can have working together in the communities we serve. 

As Unite Us continues to expand on this exciting work and connect with other local United Ways and 211s across the nation, we hope these relationships will serve as a solid foundation for informing future initiatives and scaling our collective impact in a way that’s both intentional and purposeful. 

Unite Us CEO and Co-Founder Dan Brillman said:

“Regardless of which sector we’re in, our greatest strength lies in our ability to collaborate and create lasting, meaningful partnerships that improve the health and well-being of communities throughout the U.S.”

Effectively leveraging this strength and continuing to prioritize the needs of our communities brings us one step closer to shortening the distance between those who need help and the help that they need.

To learn more about these exciting partnerships, watch the full recording of our webinar, Partnering with Purpose: How Unite Us and 211s Are Collaborating to Build Innovative Models of Care. If you are a local United Way or 211 who is interested in joining this work, please reach out.

Get in Touch 

The post Webinar Recap: A Look Back on How Unite Us and Local 211s Are Collaborating appeared first on uniteus.com.

Access to nutritious food has been a complex challenge for many communities for many years.

While demand soared during the pandemic, food banks struggled to manage disrupted supply chains and put new safety processes in place, further limiting their ability to meet the growing needs of their community.

As the pandemic receded, inflation promptly showed up, putting more burden on people already struggling with returning to work, caring for children and the elderly, and paying for essentials like rent, electricity, gas, and food. 

While demand remains high, food donations are also down, further hindered by a reduction in pandemic-related emergency assistance for food, shelter, rent, healthcare, and childcare—many of which are scheduled to end this month in states across the U.S. Reductions in emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, the government’s largest anti-hunger program, and a likely tightening of Medicaid enrollment qualifications are just some of the few barriers that will prevent individuals from accessing the healthy food they need to live comfortably in the coming months.  

Though challenging, the past few years have fortunately generated important opportunities for organizations to learn more about how to best support people in need of food assistance. While an increasing number of food assistance organizations are now actively seeking out opportunities to leverage data that identifies supply and demand, others have also made an intentional effort to strengthen their network of partnerships to address food insecurity at scale. 

The Critical Role of Food Banks and Food Assistance Organizations

In its most basic form, a food bank is a not-for-profit charitable organization that collects food and distributes it to other charitable organizations such as food pantries, soup kitchens, libraries, and faith-based groups. Serving as a frontline organization in many communities, food banks help feed people struggling with hunger or access to healthy food, often operating as warehouses and deploying trucking fleets to make that happen.

Food banks rely largely on donors for their funding and the food they distribute, and on volunteers for their day-to-day operations. Food often comes from grocery stores and restaurants that donate excess food or food nearing its sell-by date, and even from farmers who want to offload food that can’t be sold in grocery stores because of its appearance. To supplement their supply, food banks may run food drives for local community members to donate food and other supplies.

Today, according to an Urban Institute study, one in six adults may rely on charitable organizations for food, which is still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Adults with children are 50 percent more likely to need charitable food. Due to social, economic, and environmental challenges, Black and Hispanic people are three times more likely than White people to use food pantries. As a result of this growing demand, many social services organizations and food pantries are often forced to scramble in arranging for food donations, food deliveries, and distribution. 

To build healthier communities, we need to go one step further. 

Adjusting Through Innovation and Outreach

The number of people who access food from food assistance organizations went up during the pandemic and hasn’t gone down since, posing a huge operational challenge for charitable food organizations. Strapped by limited supply, donor fatigue, unstable funding, and persistent demand, many organizations are seeking new ways to adapt to this ever-changing landscape.

For many organizations, the evolving landscape has required modernizing their operations and investing in new technology. For others, it means expanding their networks of community partners to help source and distribute food more effectively. 

Today, according to McKinsey, food banks are using strategies from for-profit distributors to optimize their warehouses and make them more efficient and cost effective. They’re also using analytics to better assess demand by looking at social factors like unemployment numbers, inflation, and poverty levels. 

These new tactics have helped lay a solid foundation for helping mitigate hunger in communities across the U.S. while also addressing the underlying problems that exacerbate it. 

Shortening The Line Through Community Collaboration

Though food banks have traditionally served as emergency options to alleviate hunger for those in need, some have now have shifted their focus to how quality food can help meet the co-occurring needs of people and communities struggling not only with hunger but also chronic illness, obesity, economic hardship, and other social challenges.

By helping those people connect to services that provide job training, financial assistance, in-school support, transportation, and more, food banks and food assistance organizations can help their clients become better equipped to also overcome food insecurity. Food banks are important partners in improving whole-population health and health for all. 

So how can food organizations connect to community-based organizations that meet needs beyond food? And how can community-based organizations supporting people with shelter, heat assistance, legal services, benefits navigation, chronic disease management, and so on connect to the right food assistance organizations?

Here are four strategies:

• Adopt collaborative software to start securely receiving referrals from social and healthcare organizations not typically a part of food distribution.
• Experiment with innovative partnerships across sectors that account for differences in geography and need.
• Collaborate to implement innovative delivery models that scale impact while creating consistency in the community.
• Conduct research to evaluate the impact of interventions that address root causes of food insecurity such as homelessness and unemployment.

Thinking Beyond Food

Unite Us plays an impactful role in identifying people in need and sharing standardized insights securely and at scale across many social services and healthcare organizations, including food banks. We know food insecurity always goes hand in hand with other social needs like access to housing and healthcare. In meeting the needs of the food insecure, it’s time to think beyond food. 

Breaking down silos that prevent community members from accessing vital resources such as nutritious food, our networks operate as hubs for the kind of collaboration and exchange needed to enable community-based organizations of all kinds to take an active role in directly connecting their clients to food assistance and other holistic needs. 

If an organization doesn’t provide food assistance, it can easily refer clients through the Unite Us Platform to organizations that do. In turn, a food assistance organization can help their clients gain access to other critical services and support through the same network, increasing accountability and trust between organizations and with the clients they serve. 

As one partner shared:

“Food Bank for the Heartland helps so many Nebraskans apply for SNAP benefits. Most often, it is not just SNAP they need assistance with; they often ask for utility, rent, food pantries, anything that will help them get by. I am so glad this new referral system has started. It is another way clients can make contact with an agency without having to do all the legwork themselves or retelling their story over and over again. Our neighbors are exhausted, and having this referral system is one way they can get a little relief.” – Natalie Nelson, MSW, Food Bank for the Heartland SNAP Direct Service Manager

Complex problems require holistic solutions. By bringing organizations together around the multiple challenges of an individual in need, we have an opportunity to address all of their needs and build healthier communities for all. 

Putting Partnership into Practice

We recently had the opportunity to interview our partner Feeding Tampa Bay about their experience working with Unite Us to connect the dots in their community. Chief Programs Officer Matt Spence shed some light on the importance of addressing drivers of health, the benefits of making the most of every interaction, and how we all play a role in connecting people to the care they need when they need it most.

Q: With 80 percent of health outcomes determined by drivers of health, social care has never been more important. What do you think are common misconceptions about the importance of addressing drivers of health?

A: I think we tend to separate in our mind something that is a health issue from something that affects the rest of your life. And we know that there’s a lot of interactivity there. We know that, if you have poor mental health, that affects your food security; that affects your ability to be an effective employee; that affects your ability to be an effective student. All of those other stressors can build up and actually create health issues on the other side as well. So, it’s really a bidirectional relationship.

Q: Can you explain how your organization is working hard to help individuals with more than just food?

A: More people will touch social services through the food-relief system than any other methodology. And so what we’ve been trying to do as a food bank over the last five years is do a better job of taking advantage of that interaction. If somebody comes to us for food, there’s something else going on—that’s not the only thing going on in their life. And so that’s why we created a job training program. That’s why we’ve built out these types of solutions. That’s why we have a daily meal; that’s why we have nutrition education programs and financial stability work. All of these pieces fit together to create exit velocity for our neighbors. That’s really the goal. Not only are we feeding people who are in the line, but we’re also shortening the line, making sure that people don’t have to come back.

Q: Can you share how your organization’s impact and processes have changed since joining the network and using the Unite Us Platform to help community members address health and social needs?

A: System navigation is a huge challenge because our social service system is not designed with the biggest needs of the guests in mind. It is designed for the perspective of the employees and for the system. In order to truly navigate, if you have multiple issues going on, you’re going to multiple locations—you’re telling your story over and over again. If it’s traumatic, you’re re-traumatizing yourself again and again. And you are putting up all of these barriers of time, of travel. You know, you can’t be at work if you’re navigating the social service system. And so having the Unite Us Platform that knits everything together far more tightly shortens that traumatic time for the individual. It ensures that, when someone enters the system, there is a way to follow them through the successful completion. It’s incredibly important for us because, before Unite Us, it was really ‘call and hope.’ You make a phone call and hopefully you know the right organization; hopefully you know the person within the organization who’s going to be responsive; and then you send off this person who’s coming to you to ask for help, and you hope it works out. But now we can follow up. Now we can ensure that that connection was made or that challenge was addressed—that the person can go forward.

Q: How do you ensure people receive the help they need when they need it most?

A: Closing the loop is so important. My favorite thing about Unite Us is that we can actually check to make sure that the person who came to us to ask for help is getting the help they need, even if we’re not the ones delivering it. That person said, ‘Feeding Tampa Bay can help me,’ and it’s our responsibility to make sure we actually do. Giving somebody a business card is not it. We’re not in this world if we don’t care about the people who come to us, so we want to make sure that what we’re doing is working.

Want to help others learn more about the services your organization can provide? Interested in connecting to other community-based organizations to see all your clients’ service needs addressed? Join a network and start receiving referrals from all kinds of organizations in your community—including hospitals, shelters, churches, schools, and even your local salon.

Together, we can unlock the potential of every community.

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Health disparities among New Yorkers are significant, persistent, and increasing. Public Health Solutions (PHS) works to change that trajectory and supports New York City families to achieve optimal health and build pathways to reach their potential. PHS provides direct services to families, supports community-based organizations through our long-standing public-private partnerships, and bridges the gap between healthcare and community services. PHS and Unite Us partner on WholeYouNYC, a city-wide, trustworthy, and reliable community resource network that connects healthcare and social services.

One Client’s Story

When we hear the phrase “food insecurity,” we don’t immediately connect it to cancer. “Hector’s” story, however, illuminates a common scenario that many community members face when receiving treatment for cancer. Through our partnership with PHS, New York City’s largest public health nonprofit, Hector (not his real name), along with thousands of others, are receiving the services they need through a difficult period in their lives.

The medical provider that treated Hector’s cancer referred Hector and his partner to PHS’s WholeYouNYC. Because Hector was the primary earner in the household and was unable to work while recovering, he and his partner were hoping they could receive supplemental food and nutrition benefits to help tide them over during this time.

During the screening conversation with Hector, one of PHS’ Food Navigators determined that the couple was eligible to receive medically tailored, home-delivered meals and SNAP benefits. A PHS network partner confirmed through Unite Us that he was eligible and enrolled Hector to receive their services. The following week, during his first rounds of chemotherapy, three nutritious meals a day were delivered to their home.

PHS’ SNAP enrollment program was also busy at work on the couple’s SNAP benefits application. Thanks to a quick turnaround and thorough application completion, Hector and his partner were rapidly approved to receive monthly SNAP benefits.

Going through a health crisis like cancer is extremely difficult, and when clients and families are concerned about paying rent and putting food on the table, the stress escalates. Being able to lift the family’s burden and improve Hector’s health was enormously gratifying for PHS’ team.

Last year, because of hundreds of new enrollments in SNAP benefits, Home Delivered Meals, and Diabetes Self-Management programs, PHS estimates that WholeYouNYC achieved $2.8M in healthcare savings through its network of food and nutrition services providers.

Cross-Sector Collaboration Across New York City

WholeYouNYC has the potential to revolutionize community health and improve the lives of millions of New Yorkers. This diverse network creates new healthcare, community, and public access points to community-based resources across the city that help New Yorkers resolve their unmet, health-related social needs. WholeYouNYC couples the power of Unite Us’ dynamic, collaborative software with PHS’ team of multilingual, culturally relevant community resource navigators to ensure people receive the right resources in the right place at the right time. Together, PHS and Unite Us partner with community-based organizations to build their capacity and secure new revenue streams for their work from healthcare providers, government, and philanthropy. 

For this series, we asked PHS about our work together and their vision of cross-sector collaboration to create lasting change across 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 your organization since the start of our partnership?

In recent years, COVID-19, inflation and migration have strained the capacity of nonprofit, community-based organizations and resulted in an unprecedented need for services. Simultaneously, how community services are provided has been radically transformed with the introduction of virtual services and the remote issuance of benefits. In this new environment, efficient coordination and real-time communication across sectors and partners is more essential than ever before. As a result, a PHS/Unite Us partnership that started out as a quality improvement project to better coordinate access to a narrowly prescribed set of resources has grown into a more comprehensive public health infrastructure development project.

How does PHS think about or approach collaboration with other sectors?

Since the launch of WholeYouNYC, we have fostered a collaborative design approach across sectors, ensuring that the people participating in the system have strong input into how it is developed and implemented and that they form the human connections that contribute to optimal success. Systems transformation cannot be successful without a focus on human-centered design. To set the table for success, PHS has convened collaborative design sessions at multiple levels, from small, neighborhood-level partnerships to citywide, policy-oriented convenings. As NYC’s public health anchor institution, PHS has the influence that is needed to bring together stakeholders from the community, healthcare, government, philanthropy, and the private sector to advance the work and ensure it contributes to a shared vision of health equity for NYC. 

What are the benefits of cross-sector collaboration to the individuals and families you serve?

The challenge to living a long and healthy life in NYC too often depends on whether a person lives in a safe neighborhood; experiences racism or discrimination; has access to medical care, food, and stable housing; or has adequate income, knowledge, and opportunities to make healthy choices. Additionally, despite spending $10,000 per person on healthcare for New York residents annually, our healthcare system fails to support a person’s health and well-being outside the four walls of medical care organizations.

This is in part because, when people are referred from healthcare organizations to social services providers, there is minimal follow-up to ensure they receive the help they need. Additionally,  thousands of social services and community resources are available throughout New York City; however, poor coordination between providers results in New Yorkers being unable to access the help they need—even when it exists in their own backyard. These disjointed systems burden people with locating their own care, engaging with multiple agencies, and enduring a time-consuming process of coordinating various resources. As a result, New Yorkers continue to experience some of the worst health outcomes in the United States, despite numerous systems already in place to support good health.

WholeYouNYC aims to solve these problems and improve health equity by placing people at the center of care and connecting them with a network of resources to address their unmet needs. We have connected over 500 organizations that offer more than 800 programs across all New York City boroughs, including food, housing, employment, legal aid, youth training and development, health insurance, maternal support, sexual health services, and more.

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

We are excited about adding the city’s new “Groceries to Go” initiative to our portfolio addressing food insecurity. Groceries to Go provides eligible New Yorkers with monthly credits to purchase groceries for delivery or pickup. Credits can be used to purchase SNAP-eligible foods and beverages through an online platform that links to hundreds of grocery stores in New York City. The credits can also be used to pay for service fees, tips, and delivery. Groceries to Go participants also receive a 50-percent discount on purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables using their credits. Participants can save up to $30 per month with this discount. There is tremendous potential to impact food insecurity when we combine this offering alongside SNAP enrollment and other food and nutrition services.

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

Our biggest hope is that New Yorkers feel they have a health and human services system that recognizes their unique challenges—one they can trust in times of need. This is foundational to health equity. We hope that WholeYouNYC at scale results in a more accessible, coordinated, and accountable system of community care. We are committed to successfully leveraging what we learn in the data-driven insights provided by Unite Us to fill critical gaps in services and advocate for service expansions, enhancements, and improvements that will be essential to ongoing sustainability and success.  

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

A network is only as good as its people, and the nonprofit sector is increasingly strained. Unite Us leadership can help by providing secure insights and technical support to organizations as they grow their capacity and work to secure meaningful new sources of revenue. The platform can be a powerful tool in addressing the “wrong pocket” problem, where large healthcare providers reap healthcare quality incentive payments based on outcomes achieved by community-based organizations and low-cost community healthcare providers. Unite Us can support organizations to apply these insights to more effectively prove their value and achieve a greater share of value-based care incentives. The Unite Us Platform can be used to make a compelling case when it identifies unmet needs in the community and barriers to care for populations of interest to policymakers. This data can be amplified to secure policy wins and drive investment to where it is most needed. 

For more information about Public Health Solutions, follow @wearephsny on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; or visit HealthSolutions.org.

Learn more about how to bring Unite Us to your organization: 

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We founded Unite Us 10 years ago to connect individuals and families in need to health and social services to improve their lives. As military veterans, we wanted to alleviate the problems veterans and their families experienced during the transition back to civilian life. We witnessed firsthand the barriers and inefficiencies that individuals face when trying to navigate health and social services, and set out to improve that experience. We have since expanded from serving veterans and their families to serving all people who need connections to care across communities. Unite Us is now the leading software company bringing sectors together to improve the health and well-being of communities.

As we look back on our last decade with Unite Us, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the challenges and opportunities we have faced in founding a company with a mission to deliver multi-generational, transformational impact for the communities we serve. We want to share this reflection to support the next generation of leaders so that they can learn from our experience and understand that challenges are invariably a part of any effort to create long-term change. 

The Challenges

1. Building Technology-Powered Accountable Networks: Growing from Zero to One

We started our journey by listening to the people who were seeking care and the community partners who served them. In those conversations, we quickly recognized the burdens faced by these individuals and community-based organizations. People seeking services were often provided nothing more than a phone number or information pamphlet. And community-based organizations lacked the technology and infrastructure to refer their clients to care, collaborate with other partners to serve their shared clients, and track outcomes to confirm that needs were met and demonstrate their impact.  

We understood that technology adoption would present a challenge for organizations who face resource and capacity limitations that are outside of their control. We also knew that trust in our team and our technology would need to be earned. But we were up for the challenge. This led us to three core principles that we have championed throughout our journey: 

• We provide community-based organizations support and access to the Unite Us Platform at no cost.
• We hire teammates locally that directly support our community-based users.
• We center community input throughout the design and development of our products. 

These three principles have helped us develop and solidify our relationships with community partners across the country and drive real impact. But it didn’t happen overnight, and the reality is that change management is hard and growth takes time. There were some geographies that took longer to grow and support. There were other geographies where we were asked to slow down our network building model as partners who had worked in the social care space had their own network building models they were championing. We have had to evolve like any business and are not past all of the hurdles, but we are proud of how far we have come. Today, Unite Us has facilitated over 17 million connections to care across 44 states and reduced the response time for an organization to accept a referral from a median of 17 days before Unite Us to a median of less than two days. We continue to believe that our community-centered and locally responsive approach will have the greatest impact on the communities that we serve.

 2. Building One Team After Acquisitions

In late 2021, we acquired two companies—NowPow and Carrot Health—that have been incredibly valuable in helping us deliver on our mission and goals. But as many leaders know, integrating companies presents complex challenges. We integrated the teams and operational processes in less than a quarter, but we spent a much longer time considering, planning for, and executing the product integrations. We recognized (and have already seen) the potential of our combined solutions but also saw the need for a diligent and intentional integration process. Our approach was to listen to customers, test, and build new features and functionality. Throughout this period of discovery, our partners were eager to learn more about our plans. We did not always have the answer as we managed the integrations in real time, but we are proud that we are releasing a powerful set of new and combined features that will continue to support better collaboration, improved efficiency, and most importantly drive impact for our communities for decades to come.

The most difficult challenge in any acquisition is integrating teams and building the right structure for the long term. Through this experience, we were humbled to see how our teams and leaders were able to bring three incredible companies together to share knowledge, expertise, and experience to build a unified company. After the acquisitions were completed, we recognized areas for efficiency across the three companies and made a conscious business decision to reduce the size of our combined team soon after. This was an incredibly difficult decision, but we believe we made the right call to support the communities we serve and our mission, and we deeply appreciate our team and the culture that we have maintained together despite the complex realities of these integrations. 

3. Supporting the Community Goes Beyond Words—It Requires Action

Unite Us’ goal is to create healthier communities by connecting people with the resources they need to improve their health and well-being. Offering our technology products and on-the-ground support to stakeholders who need them and generating revenue is essential to support our operations and scale our impact. It also requires that we continue to work with long-term oriented investors who believe in generational change. We have found in early days that conversations around revenue or investors can be viewed as a taboo topic. Some who are not in the sector believe nonprofits should not be involved in these conversations because they risk distracting from their core mission. We believe the community should not be seen as just charity, but as a critical business partner in improving health. We spend a lot of effort aligning the economics between industries such as healthcare, government, and the community not just to ensure the community has a seat at the table, but also so they can demonstrate their impact and develop sustainable funding from providing the critical services they deliver. We recognize that revenue is a critical aspect of sustainability and growth in any organization, but when bringing innovation to sectors whose contributions to improving outcomes have historically been undervalued, you have to create an environment where government and healthcare value social care technology systems in the same way they view other solutions. This has taken a lot of time and investment, but the impact is to reinforce the importance of long-term social care investment with government and healthcare so that they view investment in social infrastructure and services as critical. Over the past decade, we have seen a shift from grant funding in the hundreds of thousands for technology to support sustainable social care investment and delivery to billions of dollars not just for technology, but also for direct investment in housing, utilities, food, transportation, child care, and other key services. We believe that continuing to champion long-term systemic change and investment in social care will drive billions of dollars to community-based organizations becoming a critical economic partner for government and healthcare.

To address this challenge, we emphasize how our technology can serve as a catalyst to propel the entire sector forward by reducing cost of care, promoting efficient use of resources, and most importantly, improving outcomes for those in need. We also explain that our business model was built for our nonprofits partners, providing them with access to our platform at no cost—not for charity, but to show these economic buyers in the healthcare and government sector how well community-based organizations deliver in a consistent way to support additional investment directly in our community-based partners. Our partnership with the community is essential and the entire sector must continue leveraging their expertise to achieve our shared mission. We believe that discussion of investment and revenue is not something to shy away from, but rather a necessary element to drive economics and sustain our operations while growing opportunities for the nonprofit and community-based organization sector.

When we started to realize success in bringing community partners to the table and elevating social care investment to support true statewide and regional coordination, we also faced unexpected and disruptive efforts by legacy competitors. We even saw platform-specific bills in state legislatures that were used to advance the commercial interests of a small few at the expense of the community, which ran counter to decades-long policy efforts to enable more effective and secure cross-sector care coordination. Policymakers and partners throughout the country have recognized that placing additional burdens on health and social care providers will make it harder for individuals to get connected to care and for resource-constrained providers to serve their communities. As a company focused on generational change, we addressed these challenges head-on by focusing on our mission, delivering the best solution in the market, and sharing our affirmative vision with policymakers and partners on how we can come together to support true cross-sector coordination and reduce burdens on individuals seeking care and their providers.

4. Investing in Technology to Support Evolving Community Needs

Building a community-centered technology that meets the needs of stakeholders across sectors takes time and constant evolution. We have collaborated closely with thousands of stakeholders, including hospitals, clinics, government agencies, and community-based partners for a decade to ensure our platform addressed each of their unique needs and initiatives. By gathering feedback and input early on, we established strong partnerships and deeply integrated our platform in communities.

One challenge all technology companies will face in new sectors is constant change and evolution. Our focus on meeting needs across sectors requires reinvestment in our technology.  We made the call to re-architect our platform several years ago, investing millions of dollars and completing a major upgrade in 2022, to better support the many cross-sector initiatives and needs that we identified through our collaboration with partners. Though we had to slow down new technology feature releases during the upgrade to be able to speed up, we are now able to move faster and build our solutions more efficiently for years to come. This has served as an important reminder to focus not just on the latest needs and trends, but also to build and reinvest in your technology so that you are always skating to where the puck is going. 

5. Maintaining Transparency and Culture As We Grow

As our business grows rapidly, so does the complexity of managing it. With new team members, technologies, go-to-market strategies, and an evolving customer base, we face the challenge of ensuring effective communication with the entire team and ensuring our culture evolves as the company grows. This was a simpler process when we were a small team of 30 people in one office in New York City, where we could discuss all aspects of the business in real time. But now, with over 850 team members spread across 49 states and multiple offices, we need to ensure that everyone is included in the decision-making process and understands the reasoning behind our actions as we strive to lead the industry and continue our rapid growth. What stays consistent is our mission and vision, and what we need to constantly adapt to is what our teammates need to feel supported and growing at the company. 

This requires engagement, transparency, and communication. What your team will expect of you evolves over time, and no leader will never be perfect at it. As founders, we have always believed in transparency and team problem-solving, and we strive to promote these values at every level of our organization. We celebrate our successes together, but we are also open about our challenges and how we plan to improve for our customers and communities. Talking about challenges as a whole team requires a level of trust with every teammate that we constantly strive to establish and grow. The truth is every company at every stage has challenges it’s trying to solve. We believe transparency about those challenges and collaboration around solutions is what gets to the right answer, and we engage in that collaborative problem solving internally as well as externally with our customers.  We will not be satisfied until every community has the infrastructure to support people’s needs seamlessly, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard each day, always striving to do better. This mindset can sometimes come across as overly critical of ourselves, but the appetite to always do better is necessary to build a company that can make a real difference. 

The Proud Moments

Our Culture and Our Team

As founders and military veterans, we know that you are only as good as your team. We have spent over a decade working to build a culture that is centered around our mission to unlock the potential in every community. Building a passionate, engaged, and diverse team requires trust, transparency, and a willingness to change and adapt where necessary. This has been a huge lesson and success that we have found at Unite Us. We are humbled by the team at Unite Us and the trust that they have placed in us, and we are honored to work to impact the lives of individuals across the country. 

Building a strong culture requires innovative policies, practices, and benefits that meet team members where they are. Unite Us is proud to have been recognized as:

• Fortune Best Places to Work in Healthcare (2022) 
• Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers (2022, 2021)
• Inc. 5000 (2022)
• Inc. Best Places to Work (2021)
• Diverse and Inclusive Employer (2021)
• Training Magazine Apex Awards (2023, recognizing Unite Us’ Learning and Development Team)

Delivering Measurable Impact

From the very beginning of our journey, our focus has always been on outcomes and impact. We have learned that value comes in many forms, particularly when you are working across multiple sectors, but at the end of the day, our North Star has always been a simple one: Did an individual receive the service to meet their needs? 

As we mentioned earlier, Unite Us has facilitated over 17 million connections to care across 44 states and reduced the response time for an organization to accept a referral from an average of 17 days to a median of less than two days. While we have demonstrated impact across key priority areas of our government, healthcare, and nonprofit partners, we are just getting started, and the lives we changed below are just a few examples of what brings over 850 teammates to work every day to create generational change:

• Individuals served through Unite Us technology reported a 63 percent reduction in physically unhealthy days and a 62 percent reduction in mentally unhealthy days as part of a recent housing study. Unhealthy days are associated with increased hospital admissions and medical costs.  
• A pilot led by community health workers utilizing our technology documented a 25 percent reduction in total cost of care. The engaged population experienced a 24 percent reduction in ED utilization and a 60 percent increase in behavioral health care utilization.
• A health system conducted its own study of how our referral platform impacted staff efficiency. They found it saved 3.97 hours per week per case manager.
• New moms at one of our provider partner hospitals in Florida were about 60 percent less likely to be admitted to the hospital three months post-partum for any reason if their care managers referred them to services through Unite Us. 
• In under a year in just one state, we’ve enabled more than 41,000 invoices to be submitted from the community to health plans using our Unite Us Payments technology. 

We hear stories every day about the individuals and their families who have been helped in very difficult situations with the support of our solutions. At the end of the day, the individual impact of each of those connections to care is incalculable. We are deeply proud of our investment and impact on the communities we serve together with our partners. 

Establishing Standards to Advance Coordination Across Sectors

We are proud of how we have centered the dignity of individuals seeking care in all aspects of our product development. We also recognize that partners and policymakers want to better understand how we can work together to advance privacy and dignity for individuals seeking services across sectors. With our strong commitment to privacy, autonomy, and dignity, we published our vision on the rights we believe all individuals should have with respect to their social care information—and how all partners in this work can advance our shared goals to enable secure and seamless access to care. We believe all individuals should have the right to know their social care information, the right to consent to sharing their information, the right to correct inaccurate information about themselves, the right to revoke consent to the sharing of their information, and the right to delete their information. These five fundamental rights—coupled with solutions like Unite Us that protect social care information under the same strict protections required for protected health information—protect individuals’ privacy and help ensure that their social care needs are addressed. We are proud of our commitment to working across sectors to develop shared standards in support of these fundamental principles and protections. 

Better Together

As we reflect on a decade of building this company and the incredible partnerships that have come to life, we want to leave you with one last thought—which is that no one individual, organization, or community can solve our greatest challenges alone. We are better together, and we look forward to the next decade of collaboration to unlock the potential in every community. 

Join us as we celebrate ten years of bringing sectors together.

Learn More

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As organizations continue to identify opportunities to optimize social care coordination across the U.S., it is important that they aim to have a better understanding of community-based organizations (CBOs) and other community health partners’ experiences and perspectives. Only then can significant strides be made in leveraging the unique strengths of each community, building robust networks, and creating technology that complements—rather than competes with—local efforts.

Collaboration Through Evaluation

As partners in building and growing our networks, Intermountain Health and CyncHealth share our vision of reducing barriers to community-engaged social care coordination and advocating for the use of effective tools that both facilitate and encourage cross-sector collaboration. To dig deeper into the unique motivators, facilitators, and barriers CBOs encounter when participating in coordinated care networks, a multi-network evaluation was conducted.

This collaborative effort was executed using qualitative methods, including key informant interviews and focus groups with organizations in the Unite Nebraska and Unite Utah network geographic regions. Our goal was simple: to highlight the unique perspective of community-based organizations related to care coordination broadly and the role of technology specifically. Participants were selected based on their respective knowledge of and experience with supporting customers, overseeing teams, or personally adopting and using the Unite Us Platform.

“The greatest success is we have connected with more clients through Unite Us.”— CBO Partner

Upon completion, the evaluation identified various best practices for optimizing community-level buy-in of social care coordination tools. Key findings underscored the importance of:

• Fostering a sense of accountability and community amongst network participants
• Establishing clear expectations around integrating care coordination into daily workflows
• Seeking out opportunities to listen and identify community needs with participating stakeholders

Looking Forward

Just as the Unite Us Platform is meant to address and mitigate siloed social care, so too must we mitigate siloed community work to build healthy social care networks that meet community needs. To do this effectively, we need to be realistic and transparent about our shared responsibilities while also proactively seeking out opportunities in which we can collaborate across sectors.

While technology and infrastructure are a critical piece in driving success, they cannot alone address the systemic and structural barriers to true cross-sector collaboration. To increase buy-in and produce conditions conducive to technology-driven solutions, the work of social care coordination must ultimately be a community-engaged and supported effort.

Download our flyer, Mobilizing for Action, to learn more about this collaborative effort between CyncHealth, Intermountain Health, and Unite Us.

Download the Flyer

Lessons Learned

Q: What did you learn from this cross-sector collaboration?

Unite Us: It’s been so valuable to work with two healthcare organizations who are actively engaged in the community. We learned through this work just how important an all-hands-on-deck approach is to successful collaboration. We all have our roles to play, and importantly, regional healthcare leaders are critical in bringing the community together to achieve collective impact.

CyncHealth: Successful cross sector-collaboration requires partnerships across healthcare, community, and technology partners. This collaboration reinforced that building a social care ecosystem is difficult and the barriers faced in building that ecosystem are often similar across the country. We valued the opportunity to share and learn from peers pursuing similar work.

Intermountain Health: Social care coordination tools are most effective when our valued community partners broadly use them. This evaluation helped us share practices we believe are effective methods to generate partner buy-in and learn about what’s also working for CyncHealth.

Q: What makes this evaluation different from others like it?

Unite Us: Most healthcare organization evaluations focus on return on investment (ROI) and cost savings achieved by addressing drivers of health (DOH). What was different about this evaluation was that it was two healthcare organizations with different missions and in different regions coming together to focus on what more they can do to support the community, improve cross-sector collaboration, and ultimately to improve population health.

CyncHealth: A social care network cannot exist without the voice and partnership of the community organizations directly providing services to clients. This evaluation helps us understand how those implementing these networks can be better community partners and ensure the community voice is heard and amplified in this work. As community partners are further integrated into the healthcare space, we hope that evaluations like this one will lead to stronger partnerships.

Intermountain Health: Holistic patient care coordination requires partners outside of healthcare, and we need technology and relationships to bridge patients to those services effectively. This is a new type of collaboration for Intermountain. This evaluation helped us understand where our implementation of a coordinated network was most effective and where we have opportunities to improve with the added benefit of shared learnings and best practices with CyncHealth and Unite Us.

Q: Why are these types of evaluations important?

Unite Us: Cross-sector collaboration and DOH strategies are trending across the healthcare landscape. We all know this work is important and necessary. But it is also hard and takes significant investment in building trust and rapport with community organizations. This is more easily achieved when we recognize that community organizations are the experts in addressing social needs, and we increase our chance of success when their perspectives and experiences are incorporated into a shared framework to tackle community needs together.

CyncHealth: The use of technology tools to address DOH is still a new frontier in the healthcare space. Evaluations like this allow for the collection and analysis of data to develop an objective understanding of what is happening with the implementation of these tools. From that data, we can establish a baseline and develop best practices in a space where they are still rapidly evolving.

Intermountain Health: Addressing a person’s physical, mental, and social needs requires services outside our clinic and hospital walls. We understand how our systems and processes work, but to be a good partner to other agencies we depend on for their expertise, we need to know how we best work together. Social care coordination plays a vital role in improving population health, and findings from these evaluations help us take an evidence-based approach to work collaboratively to improve community health.

About Our Partners

CyncHealth was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to enable providers in the State of Nebraska to exchange healthcare data and support them in providing holistic and effective care to all patients. More than a decade later, CyncHealth now serves more than 1,100 facilities and connects over five million lives across the Midwest. A leader in healthcare data partnerships, CyncHealth’s health data utility serves as a healthcare data exchange to coordinate care across the continuum, improve patient care, ease the burden on providers, and create healthier communities.  

Intermountain Health serves the healthcare needs of people across the Intermountain West, primarily in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas. Based in Salt Lake City, they are an integrated non-profit health system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,800 employed physicians and advanced practice providers, 59,000 caregivers, a health plans division called SelectHealth with more than 1 million members, and other health services.  Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. 

The post Mobilizing for Action: The Importance of Cross-Sector Collaboration appeared first on uniteus.com.

There’s strength in numbers. And when organizations come together, it’s even easier for people to get connected to the care they need. With over 165 active partnerships, Unite Us has been working closely with local United Way and 211s across the U.S. to do just that.

From building the framework for resource-sharing programs to providing statewide community care coordination, our partnerships have helped shorten the distance between those who need help and the help that they need. Together, we have made strides in:

• Evolving local collaboration to better serve individuals, understand community needs, and invest in services
• Identifying coordination center best practices and referral standards
• Strengthening referral responsiveness and improved outcomes

Watch our webinar, Partnering with Purpose, to learn more about how Unite Us, local United Ways, and 211s are extending our reach, amplifying our collective impact, and transforming social care together. Panelists include Dr. Pamela Schwalb, Chief Operating Officer at United Way of the Midlands, Naomi Lett, President & CEO at United Way Association of South Carolina and Larry Warner, DrPH, MPH, Chief Impact and Equity Officer at United Way of Rhode Island!

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