Dear Health Current Participants & Stakeholders,
I’m writing today to update you on recent developments with CommunityCares, the Arizona SDOH Closed Loop Referral System. I want to keep you informed of recent events as we continue moving the CommunityCares program forward, with the needs of the Arizona community as our top priority.
In February 2021, we announced that NowPow was selected as the technology vendor to help us develop the social determinants of health (SDOH) referral platform in Arizona, now known as CommunityCares. At the end of 2021, NowPow was acquired by Unite Us, a comparable and respected SDOH technology solutions provider.
As a result of the acquisition, Health Current, along with our partners AHCCCS and Solari, is actively working with the Unite Us team to ensure that key business decisions going forward align with the established CommunityCares goals in Arizona. Essential features of CommunityCares include a referral directory, evidenced-based screening tools, personalized referrals, alerts and communications, service-delivery notifications, data dashboards and analytics.
To ensure overall program continuity for CommunityCares, we’ve entered into a discovery phase with Unite Us – a process that will lay the foundation for the future of the platform and the program.
What this means for you:
– For organizations already live on the CommunityCares platform, you can continue to utilize the current technology. For organizations currently in the queue to go-live on the CommunityCares platform, we will be temporarily pausing the onboarding process while the details of the Unite Us transition are finalized. We anticipate that onboarding activities will resume in Quarter 2 of 2022.
– Arizona healthcare providers that are currently registered in the CYE 2022 AHCCCS Differential Adjusted Payment (DAP) program will still be able to meet their DAP milestone. The AHCCCS CYE 2022 DAP policy language related to SDOH milestones allows considerable flexibility in the timing of connections – “by [date], or as soon as reasonably practicable as determined by the qualifying HIE organization.” Health Current and AHCCCS are working hand-in-hand to ensure that the Unite Us transition does not negatively impact any AHCCCS provider’s ability to meet the DAP SDOH requirements.
– Arizona healthcare providers that are not yet registered in the CYE 2023 AHCCCS DAP program and interested in pursuing the SDOH incentives can still register by April 1, 2022, and meet the DAP SDOH milestone requirements. Learn more at healthcurrent.org/DAP.
– For community organizations and providers who have yet to join CommunityCares, the SDOH team at Health Current is excited to work with you! Team members are available to answer questions about the advantages of participation in CommunityCares and to prepare your organization for enrollment once the transition details are finalized. Learn more at healthcurrent.org/SDOH.
Most importantly, know that once the Unite Us transition details are finalized, our team will provide the necessary documentation, training and assistance to make onboarding to CommunityCares as smooth as possible.
Health Current has served as the trusted steward of health information exchange for Arizona since 2007. Over the years, we’ve learned that change is a constant in our industry. Anytime we’ve experienced a shift in technology trends, our team has worked diligently to embrace innovation while minimizing disruptions for the Arizona healthcare community. Rest assured that as the SDOH landscape continues to evolve, our team is committed to ensuring seamless transitions for everyone.
If you have questions about anything I’ve shared, I encourage you to contact our Health Current/Contexture CommunityCares director, Andrew Terech, at sdoh.info@healthcurrent.org.
Sincerely,
Melissa Kotrys
CEO, Health Current / Contexture