Inova Advances Northern Virginia’s Social Care Network

Connecting patients not only with health but well-being

Falls Church, VA — Inova, Northern Virginia’s largest nonprofit healthcare provider, has embarked on a region-wide strategy to address not only the medical needs of the community we are privileged to serve, but also unmet social needs which profoundly influence the health and well-being of patients.

“Given only 20% of a patient’s health is driven by moments spent in a healthcare setting, other factors impacting our patients’ physical, emotional and psychological well-being must be addressed to ensure lasting whole-person health,” according to Karen Berube, Chief Community Health and Health Equity, SVP, Inova Health System. 

Inova’s strategy to advance the health and well-being of our patients includes three approaches:

• Screening for social drivers of health (SDOH), conditions in which people grow, live, work and age that can shape their health outcomes. These include factors ranging from housing, food and financial insecurity to social isolation and stress.
• Identifying when patients may benefit from the assistance of community organizations with missions focused on addressing these SDOH.
• Partnering with Unite Us, a national software company enabling a virtual care coordination network known as Unite Virginia, to bring together a referral network of community partners throughout Northern Virginia to address the unmet social needs of patients.

Unite Virginia, a partnership with the Office of the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources, the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, allows organizations to connect people to much-needed resources and services. Partners in the Unite Virginia network use a shared technology platform to securely send and receive electronic referrals to address unmet needs and improve health and wellness across communities. Unite Virginia provides a common platform through which health and social service providers can monitor progress and measure outcomes.

“Unite Us and Inova are joining forces to increase access to care for all residents, regardless of circumstance,” said Jacque Hale, Unite Virginia State Director at Unite Us. “To improve whole-person care, we must address individuals’ unmet needs outside hospital walls that impact their day-to-day lives.”

Nonprofits, community-based organizations, and other providers who want to connect their clients and patients within the Unite Virginia network can reach out to uniteus.com/contact/.

“Inova is committed to seamlessly connecting patients to community organizations working collaboratively to address the social drivers of health essential to our collective well-being,” Berube noted.  “We encourage the participation of all of our valued partners.”

Media Contact: Tracy Connell, tracy.connell@inova.org, 703-674-9357

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About Inova

Inova is Northern Virginia’s leading nonprofit healthcare provider. Our mission is to provide world-class healthcare—every time, every touch—to each person in every community we have the privilege to serve. Inova’s 20,000 team members care for patients through more than 2 million visits annually across an integrated network of hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, emergency and urgent care centers, outpatient services, and destination institutes. Inova’s five hospitals are consistently recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades for excellence in healthcare. Inova is home to Northern Virginia’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Its hospitals have a total of 1,936 licensed beds. More information and statistics about Inova can be found at www.inova.org.