New Jersey’s largest health system has launched a program to connect patients in need with community resources.
Edison, New Jersey Hackensack Meridian Health announced on Thursday It has partnered with the personalized digital community recommendation platform NowPow to establish the plan.
The NowPow platform is embedded in the EHR of the health system, allowing nursing teams to screen for social factors that may negatively affect patient health, such as housing instability or food insecurity, and provide referrals for community-based resources to meet these needs. These include food banks, rental assistance agencies, transportation assistance companies, and behavioral health services.
With more and more evidence linking social factors to health, NowPow’s platform is increasingly being adopted by vendors, including those in New York City. Northwell Health 2019 West Orange, New Jersey RWJBarnabas Health last year.
The platform was launched in Hackensack Meridian’s EHR on June 28, said Nicole R. Harris-Hollingsworth, vice president of the health system responsible for the social determinants of health. Since then, more than 80,000 patients have been screened and more than 21,000 referral notices have been issued.
“The overall goal of our partnership [with NowPow] It can really provide an effective connection between community partners and healthcare organizations,” Harris Hollingsworth said in a telephone interview.
Together with clinicians, community outreach and participation teams in the health system, and medical students supporting community projects, the platform can be accessed via mobile devices.
In addition, Hackensack Meridian Health and NowPow are providing a tool for community organizations to keep their profile up to date on the platform and participate in the closed-loop recommendation process. Harris-Hollingsworth said that in this way, when a referral is made, community organizations can let the health system know whether they have seen a patient and send relevant information to be stored in the patient’s electronic medical record.
NowPow is also integrated into Hackensack Meridian Health’s website, so people can screen and connect to resources without going through a provider.
Harris-Hollingsworth said the health system will use several different indicators to track the use of the program.
First, they will study the adoption of the platform by their clinicians. Hackensack Meridian currently trains more than 6,100 clinicians on the platform.
In addition, they will check the number of screenings and recommendations completed through the platform.
For Hackensack Meridian, creating a program that combines information and action is very important.
“You don’t ask questions [about social determinants of health] If you can’t help,” Harris Hollingsworth said. “We can now ask questions confidently. Now, by cooperating with NowPow, we allow more people to provide answers. “
Photo: 9amstock, Getty Images
