What You Should Know:
– Unite Us, the enterprise technology company providing the digital infrastructure to power integrated health and social care, today announced the launch of its Social Care Payments solution.
– Social Care Payments is a first-of-its-kind solution designed to bridge the gap between healthcare funders and community-based organizations (CBOs), enabling social care funding at scale. It is the only end-to-end solution for social care that streamlines the implementation and management of paid social care programs for all healthcare funders, including health plans and managed-care organizations.
Why It Matters
Research has proven people are healthier when they have safe housing, access to healthy food and steady employment. Despite this reality, there has been a historical lack of funding for organizations addressing these social determinants of health in communities. Policy changes — including The American Rescue Plan, the CARES Act, and changes to State Medicaid 1115 Waivers — have provided CBOs with much-needed funding; however, there’s never been a simple model to fund, track and manage payment for the work they do within communities. Unite Us’ Social Care Payments solution solves this problem by introducing a new industry standard, elevating social care to the same priority level as clinical care.
Until now, governments, health plans, providers and foundations have struggled to identify and partner with CBOs, contract with them, coordinate care and collect the data they need to prove the value of social care. The Social Care Payments solution allows all stakeholders to access and pay for social care through an integrated process and technology platform. The solution offers payers the ability to partner effectively with social care providers, manage programs for efficiency and increase program impact.
They can:
– Access a contracted network of community-based organizations
– Streamline eligibility and authorization processes
– Simplify invoicing and billing to reimburse community partners for services
– Measure the effectiveness of social care funding and reduce preventable medical costs with robust data and improved visibility
With early Q1 2022 launches by Healthy Opportunities in North Carolina, the Social Care Payments solution is uniquely positioned to provide the necessary infrastructure across the country for Medicaid programs looking to fund social care. The Unite Us Payments solution also includes technology to track local government funding, grants and philanthropic investments, as well as hospital community benefits dollars.
