The Queen’s Health Systems announced a three-year contract with Unite Us, the nation’s trusted technology partner for integrating health and community-based care, to support Queen’s Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) initiative, focusing on expanding capabilities for universal screening, targeted interventions, and addressing needs across the community.
Through this agreement, The Queen’s Health Systems will utilize Unite Us’ closed-loop referral system to connect to a network of community-based organizations. This will facilitate comprehensive tracking of a patient’s whole-person care journey, from initial screening to service delivery and outcome measurement. The data and insights gained are intended to inform Queen’s population health strategies, allowing for more targeted interventions and resource allocation to address the most pressing health-related non-medical needs within the diverse communities they serve.
“At The Queen’s Health Systems, our mission is to provide quality health care to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians and all of the people of Hawaiʻi,” said Dr. Whitney Limm, The Queen’s Health Systems Executive Vice President of Clinical Integration & Chief Physician Executive. “Selecting Unite Us expands this commitment through an innovative digital platform to efficiently identify and address patients’ needs by community resources, while tracking progress and outcomes to ensure high quality, coordinated care.”
The agreement will support The Queen’s Health Systems to implement standardized SDoH or non-medical screening across both inpatient and ambulatory care settings. A cornerstone of this initiative is the commitment to support any positive SDoH screening, and patients are meaningfully connected to appropriate resources through Unite Us’ bi-directional platform. This integrated approach aims to improve care coordination and efficiency, empowering care teams to more effectively intervene on the social factors that impact health outcomes.
The initial year of this three-year contract will focus on integrations such as SMART on FHIR, screening ingestion, and an automated resource list. These integrations will support interoperability with Queen’s existing electronic health record (EHR) system, Epic, providing clinicians and care coordinators with a native Epic experience. This enhanced integration will give Queen’s care teams access to referrals across various departments, offering an understanding of initiated, closed, or pending support. By streamlining workflows and providing readily accessible information, the agreement aims to focus on direct patient care.
“We are honored to work with The Queen’s Health Systems, a legacy-driven organization with such a profound commitment to its community’s health,” said Taylor Justice, President and Co-Founder of Unite Us. “Our platform is designed to bridge the gap between healthcare and community-based services, creating a cohesive ecosystem where individuals can access the full spectrum of support they need. By supporting Queens’ Epic system, we aim to streamline workflows and provide critical data insights that will allow Queen’s to deliver person-centered care and impactful change in the lives of their patients.”
