Community Care of Brooklyn and Unite Us Launch Social Care Payments Pilot

CCB Navigator Payments Pilot is funding three community-based organizations for social care services provided to Brooklyn residents referred through the CCB Navigator 

Brooklyn, NY – Community Care of Brooklyn (CCB), a network of over 1,000 Brooklyn-based healthcare providers and social service organizations, today announces the launch of the CCB Navigator Payments Pilot. In partnership with Unite Us, the nation’s leading software company enabling cross-sector collaboration to improve people’s health and well-being, this innovative pilot adds payment infrastructure and capacity to the CCB Navigator.

The CCB Navigator is a one-stop care coordination referral service connecting patients from Brooklyn-based healthcare organizations to health and social care services. Using a custom needs assessment screening tool and Unite Us’ closed-loop referral platform, the CCB Navigator seamlessly connects individuals with healthcare providers and community-based organizations (CBOs) to address health-related social needs.

The CCB Navigator Payments Pilot builds upon this by using Unite Us’ payments solution to track services and reimburse participating CBOs for qualifying social care activities. Through the pilot, organizations are paid when working with qualifying individuals experiencing food insecurity, inadequate or unstable housing, and/or difficulties navigating social services. 

“For the past decade, CCB has dedicated itself to designing and implementing effective solutions to reduce health disparities”, said Kishor Malavade, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Community Care of Brooklyn. “We are very excited to offer social care infrastructure and funding to these dedicated organizations, each of which is on the ground providing life-changing assistance to people and families in Brooklyn. With this pilot, we are bridging a critical gap in how health and social care organizations address the social factors impacting health.”

“This next step in our partnership with Community Care of Brooklyn is crucial in addressing these drivers of health while achieving the goals of the Medicaid 1115 waiver of advancing health equity, reducing health disparities, and supporting the delivery of social care,” said Marc Natale, New York Community and Customer Success Director at Unite Us. “We look forward to the positive impact our combined efforts of this ‘technology-connects-community’ approach will have in Brooklyn.”

Joining the pilot are Housing Works, Family Services Network of New York (FSSNY), and Fifth Avenue Committee, three organizations committed to improving Brooklyn community members’ health, stability, and wellness. The pilot tests a payment infrastructure and workflow that pays CBOs for services provided per referred individual. As CBOs nationwide struggle with chronic underfunding for their services, the CCB Navigator Payments Pilot creates a model for funding this crucial assistance.

“Identifying community members in need and connecting them to appropriate services can be a complicated and time-consuming process”, said Lauren Estby, VP for Prevention Services at Housing Works. “The Payments Pilot will grow our capacity to screen more patients and offer them personalized referrals to the assistance they need.”

“This collaboration will connect more community members struggling to access healthy food with the FSNNY food pantry”, said Nbiba M. Issa, Program Director of the Comrades In ARMS Program at FSNNY. “This collaboration is a pivotal step towards sustainably addressing one of the most frequent needs we see – food insecurity.”

“We are excited to be a part of this pilot effort”, said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of Fifth Avenue Committee. “By participating, we will be able to assist more Brooklynites with housing and SNAP benefit applications and recertification.”

The pilot launches on the heels of the newly approved 1115 Medicaid waiver amendment in New York. This iteration of the 1115 waiver aims to build a more resilient, flexible, and integrated delivery system while addressing health-related social needs. The waiver also calls for the development of Social Care Networks (SCNs), contracted entities in each region that will provide social-need screening and referral services, including $3.2B to pay for these types of services.

For more information, visit www.ccbrooklyn.org.