“[Though] they’re not already part of the health care process, social service agencies must realize they bring value to the table and have that confidence coming into the conversation…You’re already in the community, you’re trusted by the community, you know the community better than health care plans and private contractors…that trust is of tremendous value.”
These words, from St. Barnabas Senior Services (SBSS) President and CEO Rigo Saborio, embody the potential value that community-based organizations (CBOs) can bring to the health care sector, and should serve as a rallying cry of encouragement around which CBOs unfamiliar with integrated care can begin to explore these opportunities to better serve their clients and build their financial sustainability.
SBSS and Saborio are the subject of this Success Story, produced by the American Society on Aging (ASA) as part of its work with the Aging and Disability Business Institute, and featured in its January-February 2017 edition of Aging Today. SBSS is a Los Angeles-based agency serving approximately 18,000 diverse clients. In order to better prepare itself for the increasingly integrated care delivery system, SBSS joined The SCAN Foundation’s Linkage Lab Academy, an organizational development program for leadership and management teams from selected California CBOs that aims to equip them with the tools and knowledge necessary for effective partnership with health care entities.
Through its work with the Linkage Lab, SBSS has learned how to, among other things, communicate effectively with the health care sector, identify tools to use for internal assessments, determine health care’s need for SBSS’s services, and better assess its organizational strengths and weaknesses.
SBSS is now on its way to developing a fully integrated care delivery model with health care partners in the LA area, an achievement that would not have been possible without the business and capacity-building savvy gained through the Linkage Lab.
Check out the full Success Story at the link below, and find out how your organization can learn from innovators like SBSS!
St. Barnabas Senior Services: Finding Value in Social Service