Georgia companions with Aetna Well being for Georgia Unity, a social information platform for entire well being integration

ORLANDO – At HIMSS24, Georgia Well being Data Community mentioned its Georgia Unity platform, a well being data trade community developed with local people companions, created because of the want to know whole well being in Georgia’s rural communities. 

Dr. Denise Hines, govt director at Georgia Well being Data Community, and Shirelle King,  program supervisor at Georgia Well being Data Community, stated the aim of the venture was to make use of social determinants of well being to shut gaps in well being fairness and construct constructions for higher well being outcomes. 

Using Aetna’s well being platform, the expertise gives closed loop referrals between healthcare organizations and community-based companions concentrating on high-need people. 

“As suppliers will let you know, conventional views of well being are solely about 20% of healthcare. The opposite 80% is social determinants of well being; issues like meals safety, clothes and housing. That’s what we needed to give attention to,” stated Hines. 

Complete particular person care is essential for constructing belief in communities in addition to reaching improved well being outcomes, particularly for rural well being communities the place care interventions are tough to entry and well being training can fluctuate vastly. 

A few of the challenges Georgia Unity confronted in starting the method embody the restricted capabilities of neighborhood companions like homeless shelters, which regularly have points with file maintaining and inconsistent expertise utilization. 

One other situation was the monetary constraints stopping neighborhood organizations from using new expertise being adopted by bigger healthcare organizations. 

This made information gathering, sharing and consistency a key situation Georgia Unity labored to deal with throughout the state. 

The outcomes of the primary 12 months of the venture included a financial savings of $11,248 per particular person, per 12 months and a pair of,000 referrals to neighborhood well being assets in Emanuel County, a county of 20,000 residents.