Reading Hospital used the WellSky^® Social Care Coordination platform to connect community partners, send referrals, and fulfill residents’ needs

WellSky, a leading health and community care technology company, today released a new case study in partnership with Reading Hospital in West Reading, PA, that finds addressing food insecurity — a critical social determinant of health (SDoH) — reduced key measures of healthcare utilization by more than 30 percent.

Reading Hospital is a 714-bed acute care hospital in Berks County, PA, and encompasses many top-tier specialty care centers. It is the flagship hospital of Tower Health, the largest hospital system in the area. In 2017, Reading Hospital was awarded a $4.5 million grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model and assess whether addressing the health-related social needs of local Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries would impact their total healthcare costs and inpatient and outpatient healthcare utilization.

The case study examining the impact of Reading’s work, "Impacting SDOH through cross-sector collaboration," looks at 747 patients with resolved food needs and finds that among this cohort, emergency department (ED) visits dropped 32 percent, hospital admissions decreased 32 percent, readmissions were reduced by 30 percent, and hospital costs went down 31 percent. Among the patients who were also on the Diabetes Registry, A1C rates decreased by an average of 2.2 percent.

Reading Hospital aligned clinical and community partners in the region to optimize capacity to address health-related social needs. The hospital relied on WellSky Social Care Coordination as the referral platform to build a collaborative community network involving a diverse range of providers, including a federally qualified health center (FQHC), a managed care organization (MCO), the Pennsylvania departments of health and human services, physicians, food banks and food pantries, and many non-profit community-based organizations (CBOs).

“Access to fresh, healthy food was a serious gap in our community, and it was impacting other aspects of our residents’ health,” said Desha Dickson, vice president of diversity, equity, inclusion, and community wellness at Tower Health. “I was thrilled to see all of these partners coming together to tackle this challenge, and the results speak for themselves. Addressing food insecurity has been a critical step in improving our community’s overall wellness.”

Using WellSky technology, the project partners were able to send and receive referrals electronically, assess the needs of referred individuals, and ensure completion of the referral. This closed-loop system created a level of accountability that would have been unachievable using email or phone calls.

“This study confirms what we have always believed at WellSky — that social care is healthcare,” said WellSky CEO Bill Miller. “Empowering health plans and health systems to address SDoH through the closed-loop referral platforms we specialize in will be one of the biggest driving forces in lowering healthcare costs and improving outcomes over the next decade. Our commitment to collaborative care through technology is creating a true care continuum, from acute care in the hospital to social care in the community.”

In the city of Reading, approximately 36 percent of households with people 65 and older receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, formerly known as food stamps. In Berks County, about 10 percent of residents (nearly 43,000 people) are considered food insecure.

For more details on these findings, download the complete report. To learn more about how WellSky is helping communities address SDoH and improve measures of health and well-being, visit wellsky.com.

About WellSky^®

WellSky is one of America’s largest and most innovative healthcare technology companies leading the movement for intelligent, coordinated care. Our proven software, analytics, and services power better outcomes and lower costs for stakeholders across the health and community care continuum. In today’s value-based care environment, WellSky helps providers, payers, health systems, and community organizations scale processes, improve collaboration for growth, harness the power of data analytics, and achieve better outcomes by further connecting clinical and social care. WellSky serves more than 20,000 client sites — including the largest hospital systems, blood banks, cell therapy labs, home health and hospice franchises, post-acute providers, government agencies, and human services organizations. Informed by more than 40 years of providing software and expertise, WellSky anticipates clients’ needs and innovates relentlessly to build healthy, thriving communities. For more information, visit wellsky.com.

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