Unite Us joins healthcare leaders across the country in seeking improved care coordination for behavioral health patients

Unite Us supports the efforts of the Office of Civil Rights to advance care coordination and improve patient outcomes

NEW YORK, March 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite Us, the nation's leading software company enabling cross-sector collaboration to improve people's health and well-being, joined healthcare leaders from across the country to support proposed changes to the federal rules that would increase care coordination for patients seeking substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. The proposed changes will improve the lives of those seeking SUD treatment, advance care coordination across sectors, and continue to protect the privacy of those seeking care.

Last December, the Office of Civil Rights within the United States Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would modify 42 CFR Part 2, a provision that regulates how substance use disorder treatment information may be shared among care providers. The proposed rule would align Part 2 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) by facilitating integration of SUD treatment information with other health information to enable improved care coordination. In this way, the proposed change would help enhance providers' ability to treat the whole person and improve health outcomes.

In a letter to the Office of Civil Rights, Unite Us wrote: "Individuals with SUDs deserve equal access to coordinated networks of care to improve their health and well being.  Integrated whole-person care, which is critical for an individual's health and well-being, requires that providers be able to share clinical information about the client's treatment and their healthcare condition."

Former U.S. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Founder of The Kennedy Forum and advocate for Part 2 reform said, "HIPAA protects all patients' health information. Aligning 42 CFR Part 2 with HIPAA will protect patients while giving providers essential information needed to provide effective treatment and whole-person care. I strongly support efforts to improve the coordination of care for people with substance use disorders. It's time for 42 CFR Part 2 to finally be harmonized with HIPAA."

As the market leader in empowering care coordination, Unite Us has witnessed many of the challenges that individuals face when seeking services across siloed providers. Additionally, Unite Us has seen the difficulties that Part 2 providers manage when working to coordinate care with their partners. If adopted, the proposed rule change would help address those barriers.

Unite Us features heightened protections for data subject to 42 CFR Part 2 and other data subject to additional federal and state protections. Learn more about how Unite Us supports secure, protected cross-sector collaboration to improve behavioral health at our webinar, The Evolving Behavioral Health Landscape on March 30 at 12:30pm EST.

About Unite Us
Unite Us is the nation's leading software company enabling collaboration across sectors to improve the health and well-being of communities. Unite Us' secure solutions establish a new standard of care that identifies social care needs, helps connect people to services, and leverages meaningful outcomes data to further drive community investment. Through Unite Us' national network and software, community-based organizations, government agencies, health plans, and healthcare providers are all connected to better collaborate and meet the needs of the individuals in their communities. Follow Unite Us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Unite Us Media Contact
Damien Graham
Senior Director, Communications
damien.graham@uniteus.com

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