Intermountain Healthcare Selects Unite Us to Digitally Connect Medical and Social Service Providers

The Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health, a community collaborative convened and funded by Intermountain Healthcare, announced the selection of Unite Us as the technology platform that will power the Utah Alliance’s coordinated care network, which will connect people in need with the healthcare and social service providers who can best help them.

The Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health is the first program of its kind in Utah that aims to promote health and well-being by proactively addressing the factors that affect people’s health before they come to a clinic or a hospital, such as food insecurity, affordable housing, employment, etc.

The vision for the Alliance is to deliver a continuum of care that includes social resources, improved health outcomes, and the affordability of healthcare to people who often suffer from poor health. The Alliance will launch in two demonstration counties: Washington in southern Utah and Weber in northern Utah, then will expand across the state.

The Alliance is a collaborative group funded and convened by Intermountain with community partners who can provide innovative, comprehensive, and collaborative solutions from public and private sectors that will improve the factors that determine people’s health. Additional financial contributions have been made by the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation and Zions Bank.

Intermountain Healthcare worked to gather input from numerous community partners before selecting Unite Us as the Alliance’s coordinated care network.

By partnering with Unite Us, the Alliance will be able to connect social service partners that are addressing needs such as housing and hunger with healthcare partners in Washington and Weber counties. Partners in the Alliance include Local Mental Health Authorities, Federally Qualified Health Centers, the Association for Utah Community Health, Utah 211, social service organizations, state and local health departments, and other public entities. These organizations, along with Intermountain Healthcare will be centrally connected to each other with the ability to:

• Screen individuals for unmet needs.
• Electronically connect individuals to clinical and social service providers.
• Track progress and receive automated feedback from partners to ensure care and services are received.
• Collaborate with community-wide care teams that will ensure providers are on the same page regarding the shared progress of the people they serve.
• Collect data, including structured outcomes, to measure the network’s impact, including time to service and effectiveness of care.

All partners within the Alliance will deliver care as part of an integrated and accountable network to further improve access to healthcare and social services in Utah. The network will be open to SelectHealth Medicaid-eligible residents in Weber and Washington counties. Alliance program services will be available to qualifying persons without regard to their choice of healthcare provider. Upon the completion of the demonstration, the program will be evaluated for expansion to other populations and areas.

“Working with community partners to go upstream to support well-being is one of the most effective things Intermountain Healthcare can do to fulfill our mission to help people live the healthiest lives possible,” says Mikelle Moore, Intermountain’s senior vice president of Community Health.

“Unite Us is proud to partner with the Alliance to further their mission of improving health equity and building a healthier Utah,” says Taylor Justice, president of Unite Us. “Intermountain Healthcare has positioned themselves as a leader in social determinants of health innovation and has committed to creating a path forward for others to follow.”

About Intermountain HealthcareIntermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 23 hospitals, 170 clinics, a medical group with some 2,300 employed physicians and advanced practice providers, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in clinical quality improvement and in efficient healthcare delivery. Intermountain works with community non-profit agencies, government entities, and healthcare providers to improve the health of the uninsured and underserved. Intermountain operates a variety of community and school-based clinics to improve health and healthcare access in rural and underserved communities. For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org.

The Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health, a community collaborative convened and funded by Intermountain Healthcare, announced the selection of Unite Us as the technology platform that will power the Utah Alliance’s coordinated care network, which will connect people in need with the healthcare and social service providers who can best help them.