Healthy Alliance IPA Expanding SDOH Network Across N.Y. State
The Healthy Alliance IPA in upstate New York, which takes a holistic approach to addressing the full spectrum of the region’s social care needs, is planning to expand its work across the Empire State.
The IPA allows community-based organizations offering services for housing, transportation, food, and other social needs to join together in a shared-governance association that facilitates referrals, care coordination, and performance-based contracting with health plans and medical providers.
An affiliate of the Troy, N.Y.-based Alliance for Better Health, the IPA recently announced a partnership with the technology company Unite Us to convene regional community leaders and thousands of local community-based organizations across the state to ensure all New Yorkers have access to a comprehensive, coordinated social care service network.
Since 2018, Healthy Alliance IPA’s network of medical, social, and behavioral health providers, Healthy Together, has leveraged Unite Us to send and receive SDOH referrals and track outcomes. Today, the growing network of more than 500 organizations provides more than 1,000 programs and services to 22 counties across New York’s Capital, Central, and Northern Regions.
With its experience with managed care plans in the Capital Region, Healthy Alliance IPA will leverage the Unite Us technology platform to connect and grow existing social care networks, with the objective of contracting with New York managed care plans. In addition, Healthy Alliance IPA is committed to identifying new entry points of care and screening opportunities for SDOH with this technology, expanding the reach and awareness of these publicly available services.
In August 2021, the New York State Department of Health submitted a proposal to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) calling for a $17 billion, five-year program designed to address health disparities and systemic healthcare delivery issues underscored by COVID-19. Healthy Alliance IPA was referenced in the concept paper as a successful example of an emerging Social Determinants of Health Network (SDHN), taking a holistic approach to addressing the full spectrum of a region’s social care needs.
“Social needs have a direct and tangible impact on health. By mobilizing social care service networks across one platform, we are able to connect people to SDOH services across a broad geography, addressing the unique social needs of every New Yorker,” said Erica Coletti, CEO of Healthy Alliance IPA, in a statement.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program recently announced that it is funding a study to investigates the impact of Healthy Alliance IPA. A quasi-experimental research design will be used to compare patients residing in counties served by the Healthy Alliance IPA with a matched comparison group of patients from other counties, using measures of healthcare utilization, social service utilization, and total cost of care. The study will focus specifically on the outcomes experienced by racial and ethnic minority populations and also examines the roles played by CBOs led by Black, Indigenous, Latino and other persons of color. The research team is led by Stanford University School of Medicine in partnership with the Healthy Alliance IPA, Albany County Department of Health, Rensselaer County Department of Health, and other community partners.
