Liberty, NY – Sullivan County, in partnership with software vendor Unite Us, is rolling out a new referral service with local healthcare providers to make it easier for people to find the help they need.
“We have 34 partner agencies already looking to join and 27 employees who have started training to use this new platform,” Health & Human Services Commissioner John Liddle said. “Our go-live goal is August 28, and I’m excited about this chance to bring our provider community closer together and make it easier for folks to access healthcare and social supports.”
“This network will be a game-changer for us, allowing users to send and receive secure, electronic referrals and monitor patient outcomes in real-time,” explained Director of Community Services Melissa Stickle. “We’ll be able to more nimbly and effectively react to the needs of the people we serve every day.”
“Our constant goal is to ensure there is no ‘wrong door’ for people to walk through to get the help they need, and this new initiative promises to get us a lot closer to that ideal,” stated Liddle.
The “no wrong door” concept of delivering human services isn’t new, but Sullivan County aims to take this concept to a new level of efficiency that will enable providers to connect clients and patients with all of the services they need at any location in the developing network. Human service agencies and healthcare providers around the County who join the Unite Us network will be trained in the use of the network’s referral system, allowing each network member to receive and generate referrals to other network partners. Network members will also have the ability to confirm the effectiveness of their referrals through closed loop feedback. Perhaps most importantly for the community, the network will only require service recipients to provide their personal information once to be able to obtain assistance from doctor’s offices, social services, behavioral health providers, disability resource providers, workforce development, and many more.
Unite Us aims to help the County and its partners:
• Identify the right interventions for those being served
• Proactively and intelligently inform individual care management
• Design efficient community outreach, intervention, and funding strategies
Unite Us accomplishes these goals by collecting and sharing network data with partners who aim to improve social determinants of health in their communities.
The service is currently funded by a Healing Communities Study grant via Columbia University and will likely be funded in future years with opioid settlement funds. Unite Us does not charge not-for-profit agencies to join the network, and referral services come at no cost to clients and patients.