Comment on Linn County officials announce care partnership ‘My Care Community’ to improve health outcomes

CEDAR RAPIDS — Local health care providers say they often struggle to address an individual’s needs outside the clinic, such as access to housing and transportation.In an effort to address the whole person, a new partnership among county officials, health care providers and not-for-profit service agencies was formed to better streamline patient access to services.“We wanted to create a ‘no wrong door’ model where a client could get access to this system to any of our partner organizations,” Linn County Public Health Director Pramod Dwivedi said.An initiative called My Care Community was announced by Linn County Public Health Thursday as a partnership among 20 area agencies to share patient information and streamline client referrals through an electronic system called TAVConnect.The system, which is HIPAA compliant, would reduce client burden and ensure they are receiving the care they need, said Jamie Henley, Community Health Free Clinic chief operating officer and chairman of My Care Community.“My Care Community has laid the foundation to build bridges between sectors and to break down silos,” Henley said.Henley explained that, under this system, Cedar Rapids hospitals would have a direct referral path to mental health services, for example, or a low-income diabetes patient who lacks transportation would have a direct path to transportation services to ensure they never miss an appointment.“Our low-income population, those are the folks that most of the organizations (in My Care Community) serve ...,” Henley said.