In October 2020, Unite Us expanded its partnerships with Connect Oregon and with Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NEHII). Unite Us is a technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and social service provider organizations. Connect Oregon is a new organization formed to connect health and social care provider organizations throughout the state. NEHII is a health information exchange (HIE) that formed Unite Nebraska; it is expanding to enter six additional states: Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota.
With Unite Us, provider organizations across sectors can send and receive secure electronic referrals, track every person’s total health journey, and report on tangible outcomes across a full range of services in a centralized, cohesive, and collaborative ecosystem. The organization was founded in 2013 to serve military veterans. It has expanded to serve communities in 40 states to connect anyone to needed services. It works across sectors with its partners to build coordinated care networks of health and social service provider organizations, working collaboratively to meet people’s needs.
Connect Oregon was formed by the Central Oregon Health Council, PacificSource, CareOregon, the Columbia Pacific coordinated care organization (CCO), Jackson Care Connect, Health Share of Oregon, AllCare Health, and the Oregon Health Leadership Council. Connect Oregon currently serves Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, Marion, Polk, Lincoln, Linn, Benton, Lane, and Deschutes counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Southwest Washington. The expansion will serve 21 of the 36 Oregon counties through the statewide collaboration. The coordination center is powered by 211info and it supports community engagement. The long-term goal is for the network to be available in every county throughout the entire state. Community-based organizations that provide social services such as nutrition, housing and shelter, employment, and behavioral and mental health support can onboard to Connect Oregon at no cost. Connect Oregon augments earlier efforts to create a social health infrastructure; InterCommunity Health Network CCO and Samaritan Health Services, Kaiser Permanente, 211info, and local health and social service organizations who were already working with Unite Us to lay the groundwork in the state.
NEHII, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a public/private governance model that includes health care provider organizations, payers, and the State of Nebraska. It provides a statewide HIE designed to share clinical and administrative data among provider organizations in Nebraska and neighboring states. The expansion between Unite Us and NEHII builds on Unite Nebraska, their first joint statewide network which launched in July 2020. Unite Us and NEHII have begun rolling out the partnership into the additional states, and all networks will be live by August 2022. NEHII will use the Unite Us platform to provide transparency, accountability, and outcomes data to provider organizations, and to incorporate community-based social care into state ecosystems, particularly in rural areas with geographic variations in access to critical services.
This was reported by Unite Us on October 22 and 29, 2020.
Contact information: Emily Rogan, Communications Manager, Unite Us, 217 Broadway Floor 8, New York, NY 10007; 516-381-4781; Email: emily.rogan@uniteus.com; Website: https://www.uniteus.com/
Contact information: Liz Whitworth, Managing Director, Oregon Health Leadership Council, 11740 SW 68th, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97223; 541-420-9864; Email: liz@orhealthleadershipcouncil.org; Website: http://www.orhealthleadershipcouncil.org/
Contact information: Jane Beerman, Director, Marketing & Communications, Nebraska Health Information Initiative, P.O. Box 27842, Omaha, NE 68127; 402-506-9900, ext. 223; Email: jbeerman@nehii.org; Website: https://nehii.org/contact-us/
