If you work in healthcare, you have probably heard the term “integrated care” more times than you can count. It sounds great in theory - seamless collaboration between primary care, specialists, behavioral health, social work, and more. 

Everyone aligned, working from the same playbook, with the patient at the center. But here is the thing: most organizations talk a big game, and then scramble behind the scenes with disconnected systems, manual handoffs, and care teams who have no idea what the others are doing.

What Even Is “Integrated Care”?

Everyone loves the term “integrated care”—, but let us be honest, most people throw it around without knowing what it actually means when the rubber hits the road.

Integrated care is not just a buzzword. It is about making sure every part of the patient’s experience is connected. That means doctors, nurses, behavioral health specialists, care coordinators, social workers, and even referral managers are all on the same page,working from the same system, following the same care plan, with full visibility into what everyone else is doing.

When this works, patients feel like someone finally has their back. When it does not? Welcome to the world of repeated tests, missed referrals, and the phrase no one wants to hear: “I already told the last doctor that.”

So the big question: how do you actually make this work inside Salesforce Health Cloud?

Let me show you how we built it.

Why Most CRMs and EHRs Fail at Integrated Care

Here is the first thing we learned: most healthcare systems are disconnected by design. EHRs are great at documenting what already happened, but not so great at coordinating what should happen next.

On the flip side, traditional CRMs (think HubSpot, Dynamics, or even Salesforce Sales Cloud alone) are obsessed with leads and deals, not with patients, care teams, or compliance.

So if your goal is to coordinate across multiple providers, disciplines, and organizations? You need something that does all of it - data management, collaboration, care plan tracking, and compliance. This is where Salesforce Health Cloud steps in.

Also read: 5 Reasons Salesforce is Essential for Healthcare

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So How Does Salesforce Health Cloud Actually Support Integrated Care?

Let’s get into the mechanics. If you want multi-disciplinary, real-time, patient-centered care, Health Cloud is the platform that actually lets you build it.

Here is what made it work for us:

1. Care Plans That Actually Guide Care

We built customizable care plans that included goals, interventions, milestones, and activities—mapped to the patient’s condition or risk category. Care managers could track progress, assign tasks, and keep everyone aligned.

Example: For a diabetic patient, the care plan included goals like medication adherence, nutritional counseling, and blood sugar monitoring. Each task was assigned to a different role—dietitian, primary care provider, or care coordinator.

2. Care Teams That Are More Than Just Names on a Chart

Inside Health Cloud, we created dynamic care teams with roles and permissions. That means every patient had a care team with specific responsibilities—visible on one screen, with communication flowing in real time.

No more wondering “Who is handling the referral?” or “Did the behavioral health counselor follow up?”

3. Patient Timelines That Actually Make Sense

Instead of flipping between systems, our teams used the Patient Timeline to see a chronological, unified view of clinical data + engagement data—appointments, tasks, case notes, communications, all in one place.

It is like scrolling through the patient’s journey instead of clicking into 12 tabs.

4. Tasks, Alerts, and Triggers that Keep Everyone in Sync

We built in automation to notify care managers when a patient missed an appointment, when a lab result came in, or when a referral was not accepted within 3 days.

This meant no more dropped balls. The system was watching the care journey in real time and prompting the right person to act.

5. Referral Management That Actually... Manages Referrals

Health Cloud let us track, assign, and follow up on referrals within the same platform. This was a game-changer—especially for high-risk patients moving between behavioral health, specialists, and primary care.

Also read: Benefits of Working with a Salesforce Expert in Healthcare

How We Built an Integrated Care Model in Salesforce (Our Use Case)

A patient discharged from the hospital after a heart failure episode needed coordinated follow-up with a PCP, cardiologist, dietitian, and behavioral health counselor.

What We Built:

• Triggered referral case created at discharge
• Care team auto-assigned based on the patient’s care plan template
• Follow-up tasks scheduled for each role (PCP within 2 days, cardiologist within 7)
• Alerts set up for missed appointments or unaccepted referrals
• Care plan progress updated as each milestone was completed
• Case manager dashboard with full visibility into all active follow-up flows
  
  

The result? Everyone on the care team knew what was happening. The patient did not fall through the cracks. And for once, things actually felt... coordinated.

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What Happened When We Got It Right

Here is what changed once we had true integrated care running in Health Cloud:

• Visibility: Everyone had access to real-time updates—no more “Who’s handling this?”
• Accountability: Assigned roles and automated tasks meant fewer missed steps.
• Efficiency: No duplicate efforts, no redundant outreach.
• Patient outcomes: Better engagement, fewer readmissions, faster follow-ups.
• Data tracking: All interactions, outcomes, and escalations were tracked for reporting—zero manual audits needed.
  
  

If you work in healthcare, you have probably heard the term “integrated care” more times than you can count. It sounds great in theory - seamless collaboration between primary care, specialists, behavioral health, social work, and more. 

You cannot deliver integrated care with fragmented tech. Full stop.

Salesforce Health Cloud gives you the bones - the data model, the workflows, the care team structure, and the automation, to make integrated care more than just a PowerPoint talking point.

But it takes more than tools. You need people who know how to build the workflows, set up the alerts, and train the teams. We have done that. And once it is in place? It changes everything.

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