Orlando – at HIMSS24Georgia Health Information Network discussed the Georgia Unity Platform, a health information exchange network developed with local community partners that was created out of a need to understand holistic health in rural Georgia.
The goal of this project is to use the social determinants of health to improve He said the goal is to close equity gaps and build structures for better health. result.
use Etna's As a healthcare platform, this technology provides closed-loop referrals between healthcare providers and community-based partners for high-need individuals.
“As health care providers will tell you, traditional health is only about 20% of health care. The other 80% is the social determinants of health: food security, clothing, housing, etc. That's what I wanted to focus on,“ Hines said.
Whole-person care is critical to building trust within communities and achieving improved health outcomes, especially in rural health communities. Care interventions are difficult to access And health education can be very different.
Challenges faced by Georgia Unity at the beginning of the process include the limited capacity of community partners such as homeless shelters; These partners often have issues with record-keeping and inconsistent use of technology.
Another problem was that financial constraints prevented community organizations from taking advantage of new technologies being adopted by large healthcare organizations.
As a result, data collection, sharing, and consistency became critical issues that Georgia Unity set out to address across the state.
The project's first-year results include 2,000 referrals to community health resources in Emanuel County, a county of 20,000 people, and annual savings of $11,248 per person.