Phreesia Partners With the State of North Carolina to Address Whole Person Health Among Its Residents

Phreesia, the leading patient intake platform, is pleased to announce it has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) on its Healthy Opportunities Initiative to help address the full set of factors that drive health among people in the state.

“To advance the health and well-being of North Carolinians, we need to build a coordinated, whole person-centered system that addresses both medical and non-medical drivers of health,” said DHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. “Our partnership with Phreesia will make it easier for doctors and other health care providers to ask patients about their non-medical health needs, which are a critical component of their overall health.”

Healthcare organizations throughout the state can now use Phreesia to deliver North Carolina’s Standardized Social Determinants of Health Screening Questions to identify patients who have unmet social needs that impact their overall health. Phreesia can alert providers and care coordinators in real time about patients’ individual needs so they can more fully understand a person’s holistic health.

To further accelerate this work, NCCARE360, the first statewide coordinated network with a shared technology that connects healthcare and human service providers, is being deployed across North Carolina currently and will make it easier to connect people to resources when those needs are identified.

Research shows that up to 80% of a person’s overall health is driven by social and environmental factors. In North Carolina, many people struggle with unmet social needs. According to NC DHHS:

• More than 1.2 million North Carolinians cannot find affordable housing, and one in 28 children under age 6 is homeless.
• North Carolina has the 8th highest rate of food insecurity in the United States, with more than one in five children living in food-insecure households.
• Forty-seven percent of North Carolina women have experienced intimate partner violence.

New research from Kaiser Permanente shows that a majority of patients want their providers to ask about their social needs and help connect them to the appropriate resources. And in a recent survey of 7,000 patients across Phreesia’s network, 15% said they struggle with multiple unmet social needs that they had not discussed with their healthcare provider but wished they had.

Phreesia’s intake platform screens patients for unmet social and environmental needs and helps providers better understand their patients through:

• Proven technology that fits into the medical practice workflow and allows patients to answer sensitive questions privately and honestly
• Real-time alerts and data that equip providers and care coordinators with the information they need for more meaningful visits and better access to resources
• Analytics and reporting that enable practices to better understand their patient populations both in the aggregate and on an individual level

“We’re excited to collaborate and support NC DHHS on this important initiative,” said Phreesia CEO Chaim Indig. “Helping providers identify patients’ social needs allows us to further our mission of improving the healthcare experience, and we look forward to continuing this work in communities across the country.”

About Phreesia

Phreesia gives healthcare organizations a suite of robust applications to manage the patient intake process. Our innovative SaaS platform engages patients in their healthcare and provides a modern, consistent experience, while enabling healthcare organizations to optimize their staffing and enhance clinical care.

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