Allina Health partners with Unite Us to address unmet social care needs

The collaborative effort aims to build a cohesive and secure care network to connect residents to community resources and social care services in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

MINNEAPOLIS (March 19, 2024) — Allina Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization focused on improving health for Minnesota and western Wisconsin communities, and Unite Us, the nation’s trusted technology partner for social care transformation, are partnering to connect patients to vital health and wellness services in Minnesota and Wisconsin through a cohesive and secure coordinated care network founded on Unite Us’s technology.  

Allina Health’s Health-Related Social Needs Program screens patients to understand how social isolation, food insecurity, housing instability, difficulty paying utilities, access to transportation, and difficulty paying for medications or medical care make a difference in every patient’s health. Unite Us builds on that process by providing a central point of contact where healthcare providers and community-based organizations (CBOs) can work across sectors to securely access and refer people to needed services while monitoring progress and measuring outcomes. 

“As a health care organization committed to improving health and preventing illness, we recognize health goes beyond a clinical diagnosis,” said Lisa Shannon, Allina Health president and CEO. “Our dedicated teams have screened more than 690,000 patients since launching our Health-Related Social Needs Program in 2022. We look forward to this new partnership with Unite Us as part of our model to care for the whole person and our ongoing efforts to support patients, so they are connected to resources, such as a local food shelf or low-cost transportation, as seamlessly as possible.”  

When a social need is identified, providers can use Unite Us’ closed-loop referral platform to securely refer a patient to a local CBO within the coordinated care network that can best meet the needs of the individual. Within the network, providers and local CBOs can track the progress of referrals and measure those outcomes at scale. The network allows Allina Health’s care navigators and care management staff to connect patients with the full spectrum of care, including Allina Health resources and community-based social service organizations.     

Allina Health Partners Care, which provides charity care to eligible patients, and Allina Health community resources, including Hello4Health, are among the vast array of resources available to patients.

“Our collaboration with Allina Health aligns with our goal to connect individuals and families to much-needed health and social care services,” said Taylor Justice, co-founder and President at Unite Us. “Unite Us will provide access to analytical software to understand patients’ needs better and identify those with the highest social risks. Providers can then proactively connect their patients to resources available in the network. This collaborative effort is a perfect end-to-end example of how the Unite Us Platform is leveraged to standardize whole-person care across Minnesota and Wisconsin.”