Connect NSV celebrates One Year Of Service

Connect NSV Celebrates One Year Of Service, Expands Capacity For Additional Agencies

Winchester, VA September 29th, 2020 - Connect NSV, a regional care coordination network, has completed its first year of service, dramatically expanding in respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connect NSV is a coordinated referral network that seamlessly connects community members to services while allowing service providers to communicate in real time about their shared clients' care and track outcomes together. All of Connect NSV’s current 21 local agencies were able to still assist clients through the network’s electronic referrals, remaining accessible regardless of in-person closures and the quarantine shut down. As a result, the network’s user base grew by 30% in three months to accommodate a staggering 400% increase in client needs.

Additionally, many clients who were unable to access in-person services relied on the Assistance Request form, featured on United Way’s website, to communicate their needs and self-refer into the network. The network also saw major strides in expanding the effectiveness of the SBIRT screening, which addresses substance use challenges in families Created as part of a three-year grant awarded to George Mason University from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Connect NSV utilizes an evidence-based practice known as Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) to identify substance use disorders in the community and offer early intervention and treatment for people at risk. All Connect NSV community partners are trained to administer the SBIRT standardized screening and to send referrals through the Unite Us platform.

So far, over 500 people have been screened as part of this effort, with 88 individuals connected to Valley Health from the software. Of those, 60 clients successfully were resolved. Thanks to our community-wide screening, this means sixty individuals received an intervention for substance use risk that may not have otherwise. This helped reverse potentially life-threatening substance use and depression in dozens of individuals, all thanks to a minimally invasive screening.

This network was used extensively during COVID-19 as part of United Way’s COVID-19 Assistance Fund. Agencies that received funding, including AIDS Response Effort, Blue Ridge Housing, Highland Food Pantry and Faithworks, tracked and coordinated financial assistance efforts through the software. The network has responded heavily to the rent crisis precipitating from the pandemic, with over 18% of all service episodes on the software addressing rental payment assistance.

The network grew rapidly – client intake doubled on average compared to months before the national emergency. Now, the network is tracking data for all CARES Act Rent and Utility Assistance Referrals for both Winchester and Frederick County. The strong performance of agencies on the network over the course of the entire year reveal a hardworking and devoted community of partners. The network responded to over 31 different types of service needs across the network in 853 service episodes – an average of over two requests for assistance a day.

Service types requested were as varied as housing, employment, health, substance use, transportation, and many others. Over 58% of service episodes over the year were marked as successfully resolved, with most of those resolutions helping people in crisis cover critical financial needs such as rent and utility assistance. The most prevalent needs expressed were housing and utility needs, with over 18% of all referrals directly related to rental assistance. Five agencies were able to resolve over 80% of their service needs, mostly focused in financial assistance.

Additionally, the top five busiest agencies in the network logged over 375 hours of phone calls and left messages with clients, a mere hint of the staggering amount of outreach performed by human service agencies of our area. The end-to-end tracking of client data allows United Way and their partners to gain new insights into the nature of need in our community. One major finding was that, of the clients who disclosed their race, 22% of the disclosed their race as African American, nearly double of our current area’s proportional demographic. The network proves the disparate impact of poverty on this specific community.

This past year also saw bridging connections across borders. During the pandemic, over 1 in 10 clients (12.7%) who reached out to the network were from outside Frederick County and Winchester City. Seeing an opportunity to collaborate, Connect NSV linked together with the ServingTogether network, a veteran services network that ranges across the DMV area, for Network-to-Network Referrals. To respond to these increasing needs of the community, Connect NSV is expanding their cap on user licenses thanks to the continued support of George Mason University, Valley Health and SAMHSA. The network will continue to integrate the lifesaving SBIRT Screening into new and existing agencies’ intakes.

The network is excited for and hoping to expand into critical new service areas. Please contact Joseph Jablonski, Unite Us Technical Assistant, at jjablon@gmu.edu, or visit virginia.uniteus.com to learn more! About Connect NSV- Connect NSV is a coordinated referral network that seamlessly connects community members to services while allowing service providers to communicate in real time about their shared clients' care and track outcomes together, all funded by a grant from SAMHSA via George Mason University to provide SBIRT screenings in registered partner agencies. SAMHSA has estimated that, by 2020, mental and substance use disorders will surpass all physical diseases as a major cause of disability. George Mason University, Valley Health and United Way Northern Shenandoah Valley recognized the need to collaborate, break down silos and build a system to address the region’s growing needs. About Unite Us - Unite Us is a technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and human service providers.

The company empowers both medical and social service providers to work together, integrating health and social care. With Unite Us, providers across sectors can send and receive secure referrals, track every person’s total health journey, and report on tangible outcomes across a full range of services in a centralized, cohesive, and collaborative ecosystem. This social infrastructure helps communities transform their ability to track outcomes, improve health, and measure impact at scale.