Closed Loop Referrals
Our philosophy is fundamentally different. The heart of what we do is helping people in need. There are a series of steps someone takes to get help. We opened up our platform so that anyone can use it for free at any time – no login required. All of this drives usage, which funnels directly down to people getting help.
We created the largest social care network in the country that connects people and programs — making it easy for people to find social services in their communities, for nonprofits to coordinate their efforts, and for customers to integrate social care into the work they already do.
Our Approach
A successful electronic referral network is a function of three main things.
- Engaged users of our platform in a community;
- Engaged customers dedicated to doing their part; and
- Giving social care providers a reason to be a part of the network.
Engaged Users
Engaged users are both people in need and staff helping people in need. Engaged users are the first, and necessary step towards health outcomes. With more engaged users, it increases the likelihood of electronic connections, electronic referrals, and ultimately closed-loop referrals.
Engaged CBOs
We give CBOs a reason to participate on the network, for free, by giving them useful tools, protecting their data, and by building trust (one at a time). We don’t come marching into a community with contracts in hand. Great networks build trust over time.
Engaged Customers
We partner with our customers to encourage deeper engagement by their staff, and local CBOs within their communities.
Our customers help:
- Employees track their activities; and
- Engage local CBOs in partnership.
Outcomes
As a result, we achieve a much higher volume of closed loop referrals, leading to the data necessary to study health or other outcomes.
In addition, our approach allows our customers to achieve far more collective impact because of upstream funnel effects (like allowing people to find and connect to help without referrals).
Other Approaches
We understand that some people search for services on their own, and then drive themselves to the service to take care of their needs. These referrals can’t be tracked electronically, but are still accomplishing good things.
By significantly limiting the population of the people you serve, and by not recruiting enough CBOs into the network, other approaches can only serve a fraction of people in need.
This approach is also expensive, and not scalable.
Focused vs. Open Network
Our customers use preferred networks and the open network together:
- Closed Network:
- e.g. Payer Covered Benefits
- Preferred Network:
- e.g. 211 Partnerships
- Customer Network:
- e.g. Philanthropic Relationship
Community Engagement
The next critical piece for successful closed loops, after a well-designed network, is investing in community engagement. We believe that engaged community networks are the key to ensure that referrals made on your platform are serviced and people actually get help. We see the greatest closed-loop outcomes when our customers invest in direct community engagement efforts themselves. Our engagement process begins with data enhancement — our team works with you to identify key CBO partners in the community, and then train those organizations to take ownership of their Aunt Bertha listings and respond to referrals sent through your platform.
Our Community Engagement Team operates as a shared resource in communities across the country. Our Community Engagement Managers are the subject matter experts in their regions and help guide our customers toward successful referral outcomes.
Schedule a Demo
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