April 2023

In recent years, healthcare providers have realized that addressing a patient’s medical needs may be not be enough if the patient also has social needs. This whole person care draws on social determinants of health (SDOH) to steer coordination with community-based organizations (CBOs) and state agencies.

Unmet social needs that can negatively impact health outcomes include:

• Food insecurity – correlates to higher levels of diabetes, hypertension and heart failure.
• Housing instability – factors into lower treatment adherence.
• Transportation barriers – results in missed appointments, delayed care and lower medication compliance.

In February 2023, GaHIN engaged EMI Advisors to support accelerating and developing social care integration services based on stakeholder priorities and needs. EMI Advisors was the key driving force behind the Gravity Project, whose mission is to advance and promote equitable health and social care by leading the development and validation of consensus-driven interoperability standards on SDOH.

GaHIN and EMI Advisors began by performing an environmental scan to assess relevant initiatives across the state. The next step has been conducting stakeholder interviews and surveys with a range of CBOs and state agencies to gather needs. Next up will be development of a vision and strategic plan to explore how GaHIN can support stakeholder priorities.

“GaHIN has been at the forefront of providing data interoperability among healthcare providers and we are now taking steps to expand that important role by incorporating SDOH factors and supporting closed-loop referrals,” said Denise Hines, GaHIN Executive Director. “This is an exciting time, and I believe we are at the inception of a new age in healthcare that will deliver improved outcomes through the integration of medical and social care.”

Kaiser Permanente Joins GaHIN

GaHIN is pleased to announce that Kaiser Permanente is now a member of the HIE. Although Kaiser Permanente physicians were able to access GaHIN member information via the eHealth Exchange, the organization wished to receive the full benefit of GaHIN membership, including participating in ADT Alerts and state health registries.

Nationally – Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.6 million members. The Permanente Medical Groups, which provide care for Kaiser Permanente members, are separate from the insurance side of the organization. The Permanente Medical Groups are self-governed, physician-led, prepaid, multispecialty medical groups composed of 24,000 physicians.

Georgia – The Southeast Permanente Medical Group was founded in 1985 and is one of the largest multispecialty medical groups in the state, with more than 650 physicians and 180 associate practitioners. The organization serves more than 300,000 members in metro Atlanta.

“We’re pleased to welcome Kaiser Permanente to membership in GaHIN,” said Denise Hines, GaHIN Executive Director. “The more members we have in GaHIN, the better our ability to securely share critical patient information that benefits all Georgians. Kaiser will also be able to participate in ADT Alerts, which notify care teams in real time about patient admissions, discharges or transfers, as well as the convenience of seamlessly submitting data to the state’s health registries.”

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