{"id":9301,"date":"2025-08-14T15:01:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T19:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniteustailstg.wpengine.com\/?p=9301"},"modified":"2025-08-19T14:13:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:13:52","slug":"how-mcleod-health-and-unite-us-are-improving-patient-care-with-closed-loop-referrals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniteus.com\/case-study\/how-mcleod-health-and-unite-us-are-improving-patient-care-with-closed-loop-referrals\/","title":{"rendered":"How McLeod Health and Unite Us are Improving Patient Care With Closed-Loop Referrals"},"content":{"rendered":"

McLeod Health, a leading healthcare system across North and South Carolina, partnered with Unite Us to enhance patient care with community-based services. By integrating closed-loop referrals directly within their EHR, McLeod Health streamlines referrals, unlocks real-time data visibility, and strengthens community collaboration\u2014all while streamlining clinical workflows and improving patient outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McLeod Health, a leading healthcare system across North and South Carolina, partnered with Unite Us to enhance patient care with community-based services. By integrating closed-loop referrals directly within their EHR, McLeod Health streamlines referrals, unlocks real-time data visibility, and strengthens community collaboration\u2014all while streamlining clinical workflows and improving patient outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"states":[37,30],"topic":[84,131,88],"industry":[74],"series_name":[],"class_list":["post-9301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-study","states-north-carolina","states-south-carolina","topic-data","topic-efficiency","topic-technology","industry-providers"],"acf":{"layout":"report","gated_page":{"":null,"title":"","featured_image":null,"description":"","form_title":"Fill out the form to download the white paper.","code_editor":"","title_2":"","description_2":"","embeds":null,"display_cta_button":true,"button_text":"Download the White Paper"},"columns":null,"download_page":{"document":""},"reports_component":{"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"buttons","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","action_buttons":[{"name":"Read the Case Study","style":"button-solid","link_type":"external","page_link":null,"link":"#background","icon":"down-caret","is_blank":false,"background_color":"","text_color":"","background_color_hover":"","text_color_hover":""},{"name":"Download the Case Study","style":"button-hollow","link_type":"external","page_link":null,"link":"https:\/\/uniteus.com\/document\/mcleod_case_study\/","icon":"","is_blank":true,"background_color":"","text_color":"","background_color_hover":"","text_color_hover":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"key_takeaways","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","id":"","menu_label":"","header":"

Key Takeaways<\/h2>\r\n

Learn how partnering with Unite Us helped McLeod Health:<\/h3>","takeaways":[{"icon":"benefits-navigation","text":"Address patient needs with closed-loop referrals to community-based services."},{"icon":"network-people","text":"Gain data-driven insights through seamless EHR integration."},{"icon":"monitor-check","text":"Go beyond resource lists with trackable workflows and real-time data."},{"icon":"family-support","text":"Deliver flexible, patient-centered care with adaptable tools."}],"text":"","tiles":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","id":"background","wysiwyg":"

Background<\/h2>\r\n

McLeod Health<\/a> is a locally owned and managed not-for-profit healthcare system serving more than one million people across South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina. Founded more than 118 years ago, McLeod is comprised of seven hospitals that offer 988 acute licensed beds and features the strength of nearly 1,000 medical staff members, 2,900 licensed nurses, and 15,000 team members. McLeod constantly seeks to improve patient care through physician-led, data-driven, and evidence-based efforts.<\/p>\r\n

The mission of McLeod Health is to improve the health and well-being of people living within South Carolina and eastern North Carolina by providing excellence in health care. Given their deep roots in the community, the health system recognized early on that drivers of health (DOH), while non-medical in nature, play a significant role in health disparities and inequities.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"spotlight","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","id":"","background_image":"","disable_overlay":false,"pill_text":"","button":"","text":"

Addressing Community Health Needs<\/span><\/h3>\r\nMcLeod Health regularly assesses community health needs as part of its mission to improve the health of the communities it serves.\u00a0N<\/span>on-profit hospitals are required to have a well-defined process for updating Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA)<\/a><\/span> every three years. By analyzing data on demographics, socioeconomic factors, and major health issues, the CHNA aims to uncover what health challenges exist in the community and identify resources available to address those needs. The CHNA has enabled McLeod Health to guide priorities, interventions, and resource allocation across its 18-county service area."},{"acf_fc_layout":"wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","id":"","wysiwyg":"
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Challenge<\/h2>\r\n

\"\"<\/p>\r\n

The McLeod Health team was committed to addressing the non-medical needs of their patients. However, their prior technology solution for addressing non-medical needs had an inefficient process that didn\u2019t close the loop on referrals sent to community partners. Looking for more than just a resource list, McLeod Health wanted to know what actually happened after they sent their patients to community resources. Did patients get the support they needed?<\/em> McLeod Health also wanted a more formalized workflow and robust data for their team to effectively manage these referrals at scale.<\/p>\r\n

Why Unite Us?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

\u201cWith our prior technology solution, we were unable to complete closed-loop referrals to a large number of our established community partners. In addition, as an organization heavily reliant on data and research, we found it discouraging that we struggled to extract meaningful reports, metrics, and statistics on the best ways to service our patient population. These gaps motivated our leadership team to research other available solutions in order to meet the needs of our most vulnerable patients.\u201d\r\n\r\nMcLeod Health<\/strong><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n
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Solution<\/h2>\r\n

When they started looking for a new technology solution, McLeod Health turned to their community and other health system partners to see what was working for them.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe learned that a number of our established and pending community partners were currently utilizing Unite Us. We found their positive reviews of the technology, implementation process, and ease of communication with the Unite Us team post-go live to be encouraging. We were also impressed with the ability to seamlessly complete closed-loop referrals in real-time prior to the patient being discharged from the organization,\u201d explains McLeod Health.<\/p>\r\n

Another key consideration for McLeod Health was the ability to seamlessly integrate with their EHR and easily pull data and reports about referrals. Unite Us\u2019 Epic integration, robust data and reporting capabilities, strong community partnerships, and trackable referral workflows ultimately led McLeod Health to partner with Unite Us.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"spotlight","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","id":"","background_image":"","disable_overlay":false,"pill_text":"","button":"","text":"

Tools in Action<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Resource Directory<\/span><\/a>\"\"<\/a>,<\/span> including:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n