Why Interoperability Is Key to Social Determinants of Health Efforts

In care delivery today, it’s well understood that a patient’s social determinants of health have a profound impact on physical well-being and healthcare spending – sometimes even more so than clinical factors.

Although the importance of addressing individuals’ social needs is widely known, many providers still struggle to identify and document the non-medical factors affecting patients’ health. And even if they can, clinicians then have to clear the next difficult hurdle: referring patients to the right services that will meet their needs.

To help clinicians communicate more easily with social service entities, Reider and his team partnered with digital referral platform Unite Us, implementing their platform to develop Healthy Together, a closed-loop network that connects physicians, organizations, and community members in one platform. The tool allows Alliance to quickly identify and address social determinants of health, eliminating silos between each party.