Gerard Scimeca
Chairman, CASE

March 9, 2023

Though it may be impossible to pinpoint exactly when our current digital age can mark its birth, a good argument can be made for the October day in 2001, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a new product that would put “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

The collective “wow” unleashed at the introduction of the iPod is fixed in our minds from the realization that we were now entering an age of seismic innovation and astonishing leaps forward in technology. In two decades, this innovation has knocked down seemingly intractable barriers and connected us to people, events, and crucial data in ways that have transformed everyday life.

Yet some may be surprised that the downpour of technology hasn’t watered the flowers everywhere, especially within the institutional frameworks of human services, where change occurs at a glacial pace. Whether these services involve the integration of healthcare with inmate rehabilitation, housing or transportation for the poor, job training, nutrition education, or many other programs intended to keep those most in need on their feet and measure social determinants of health (SDoH),  innovation has clearly been lagging.

This is not due to any lack of available technology, but the difficulty in applying tech to a complex array of individuals, providers, government entities, community-based organizations (CBOs), charities, and private enterprise providing human services that require funding and stand outside the traditional definition of healthcare related services. This services ecosystem further faces the challenge of integrating with healthcare systems wrapped head to toe in red tape.

As technology has progressed individual providers still remain largely in the dark concerning how their recipients are progressing with regard to their overall health and other needs for which they are receiving services. This lack of vision has created a healthcare system that is not maximizing the potential to fine-tune the needs of the distinct individuals and communities it serves.

Once again, it is innovation to the rescue. Conceiving of an infrastructure that takes into account the many factors impacting SDoH, enterprise technology company Unite Us has successfully applied a technological framework that breaks down past barriers and connects providers of healthcare and human services with funding resources, resulting in a giant leap forward in the advancement of community assistance programs.

This “closed loop” technology platform created by Unite Us connects providers and those paying for services in a way that creates enormous efficiencies, generates meaningful and useful data on the effectiveness of services, and enhances the benefits of recipients by supporting them through a holistic framework of assistance programs. For example, this will allow job training programs to access data or communicate with transportation programs or nutrition advisors, allowing them to monitor a participant over a wide range of potential needs and boost their opportunity for success. Likewise, a program for expectant mothers can confirm whether suitable housing needs are being met, and so much more.

Cracking the code on how to integrate a vast and disparate landscape of providers and payers is drawing more attention to Unite Us as states are gravitating toward the substantive and financial benefits of an effective closed-loop system for providing human services. It is creating a greater community impact as lines of communication and coordination between stakeholders can occur, with each organization or CBO remaining focused on their specific area of expertise.

In the end, the only thing that matters are outcomes, and whether the most vulnerable are receiving the services they need to better their lives. Human services, though not medical in nature, are the flip side of healthcare’s coin, and intuitively this is something that anybody who has ever had a hole in their roof or a flat tire on the interstate understands. Wellness itself is a closed loop, and the technology applied in this challenging framework by Unite Us is its living embodiment.

A major impact on healthcare is the weather, be it scorching heat, a blizzard, or high winds that deposit your neighbors’ belongings in your yard. The closed-loop solution paid huge dividends in Florida recently, when Gov. Ron DeSantis launched the Florida Recovery Portal, an integrated technology platform that served as a clearinghouse for victims of Hurricane Ian to seek housing, food, health services, or any unmet need from state government to help reconnect people with their families and communities.

The closed-loop technology to support social, healthcare, and human services is a seismic revolution in how states can meet the challenge of truly serving and delivering results for those in need. Unite Us has leveraged marvelous technology for certain, but the tech wizardry is only part of the story. The great innovation is devising a platform that applies high tech to address the needs of both those giving and receiving critical help. It will certainly over time enhance the lives of millions of our fellow citizens, and make life a little easier on providers and funders who’ve dedicated their energies to making a difference.

It would be a good thing indeed to see the closed-loop revolution spread across the nation. Putting 1,000 songs in our pocket was an opening promise on what technology could help us achieve, and the work of Unite Us is an invaluable contributor in making good on that promise today.