Member News

Patient Engagement HIT: (4/1) – AFH Members American Hospital Association and Humana are featured in this article about how the healthcare industry is addressing patient financial responsibility in the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when challenges remain for low-income patients who are affected by social determinants of health.

Affordable Housing Finance: (4/1) – AFH Advisory Board Member LISC launched a COVID-19 Rapid Relief and Resiliency fund aimed to help small businesses and community organizations.

U.S. News: (3/27) – Dr. Jacob Reider, President of AFH Member Alliance for Better Health, writes about how lack of infrastructure, not empathy, is why physicians fail to screen patients for social determinants of health.

REDOX: (3/22) – AFH member Signify Health is highlighted in this article for providing technology-based in-home care and complex care management services, using a platform allowing it to collaborate with risk-bearing and community-based organizations to address patients’ social determinants of health concerns.

Social Determinants Accelerator Act

National Association to End Homelessness: (3/31) – NAEH endorsed the Social Determinants Accelerator Act (H.R. 4004, S. 2986) as a bill that would promote better health care and address social determinants of health.

ICD10 Monitor: (3/23) – While there has been a steady increase in the awareness of the influence of social determinants before the COVID-19 pandemic, the current pandemic has exposed frailties that could help create a platform for implementing the integration of social determinants into healthcare and how legislation like the Social Determinants Accelerator Actor would help improve care coordination, data collection, and the health of individuals in the Medicaid system.

COVID-19 SDoH News

NASHP: (3/31) – In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, states have been modifying Medicaid Home and Community-Based 1915(c) Appendix K waivers to better protect its most vulnerable populations.

NASHP: (3/31) – The CARES Act includes critically important new funding to help states in their fight to combat COVID-19.

CDC: (3/31) – New data released by the CDC shows that COVID-19 patients with underlying health issues in the U.S. are more likely to need treatment in a hospital, and are at a higher risk of dying. Additionally, because health and wealth in the U.S. are often linked, coronavirus could hit low-income populations much harder.

Santa Fe Reporter: (3/31) – Homeless shelters in Santa Fe began using city and county funds to rent hotel rooms for some of the most at-risk members of the homeless population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milbank Memorial Fund: (3/30) – COVID-19 has led to the restricted access and closing of senior centers and churches, many of which offer group meals through a large federal-state nutrition program for older adults. This blog examines the impact of COVID-19’s closure of meal sites on older Americans.

NASHP: (3/30) – States can use CARES Act funding to support health-related social needs exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with NASHP providing some examples of how states can address new needs with the CARES Act support.

Health Leaders: (3/27) – ProMedica, the Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan healthcare network, offers social determinants of health services for employees during the COVID-19 crisis

RISE Health: (3/25) – Social determinants of health have intensified alongside coronavirus, with vulnerable populations such as the homeless, elderly and vulnerable struggling to get the resources and care they need and practice effectively.

Advisory Board: (3/25) – COVID-19 could make social determinants of health even worse, with local lockdowns impacting many Americans’ finances which could lead to increased housing and food insecurity as well as exacerbating loneliness due to social isolation.

HIT Consultant: (3/24) – A new COVID-19 community vulnerability map by Jvion uses social needs to identify populations at greater risk to help inform community planning and resource allocation to proactively mitigate the risk to vulnerable populations.

Patient Engagement HIT: (3/24) – Social needs are moving front and center as the public health community works to address coronavirus, especially for housing insecure populations, food security for elderly and vulnerable populations, and rural areas lacking adequate access to care.

Center for Health Care Strategies: (March) – CHCS has put together a resource page for states, health plans, providers, and communities, aimed at lessening the impact of COVID-19 on Medicaid populations, particularly those at the highest risk.

Commonwealth Magazine: (3/23) – While the coronavirus will impact everyone around the world, its impact will not be felt evenly, with those on society’s margins and lower economic rungs bearing a much greater burden.

Patient Engagement HIT: (3/20) – Ridesharing has emerged as a key safety net for people with transportation-related social needs, but with the push for social distancing it has become harder and less feasible to access.

New Research and Reports

JAMA Open Network: (3/23) – A study from the World Trade Center Health Registry found that patients of lower socioeconomic status experienced worse asthma-related health outcomes than their wealthier peers, regardless of free access to asthma care and medications.

AHA Journals: (3/23) – This paper reviews the barriers, opportunities, and challenges involved in shifting population behaviors, especially in underserved populations, towards health dietary practices to decrease cardiovascular disease.

SDoH in the News

Milbank Memorial Fund: (4/3) – This issue brief focuses on Medicaid and the future of health care hot-spotting, examining the significance of the trial results and what outcomes to expect if hot-spotting interventions improves.

Healthcare Innovation: (4/1) – Research studies suggest complex care requires an ecosystem approach and a long-term focus, and panelists from a recent CHCS webinar discussed how Camden Coalition and CareMore research studies are influencing complex care program design.

Patient Engagement HIT: (3/31) – Molina Healthcare announced a $75,000 grant that will support social services targeting key social determinants of health ailing the South Carolina-area health system’s practice area.

PEW Trusts: (3/31) – This issue brief examines whether health impact assessments promote equity or address factors that lead to disparities.

Hospice News: (3/30) – The reauthorization of the Older Americans Act will allocate dollars to community-based programs that address social needs, such as providing meals and transportation so seniors can remain in their homes.

Patient Engagement HIT: (3/26) –According to the World Trade Center Health Registry, patients of lower socioeconomic status experienced worse asthma-related health outcomes than their wealthier peers, regardless of free access to asthma care and medications.

Health Affairs: (3/24) – While the Administration has espoused a commitment to more fully address social determinants of health within federal health coverage programs, this blog argues that it has done so inequitably, by shrinking the health and safety-net programs that are best positioned to provide social determinant-related services to beneficiaries who need them most.

Healthcare Finance: (3/24) – Better data sharing between payers and providers can move the needle on social determinants of health, with more businesses viewing more robust SDOH data as a business necessity to achieve a whole-person approach.

Health Affairs: (3/23) – This blog article, based on discussions in the final report of the National Academy of Social Insurance’s Study Panel on Medicare Eligibility, argues that all of the proposals to expand the populations eligible for Medicare coverage should incorporate a more explicit focus on addressing racial and ethnic disparities.

NASHP: (March) – NASHP created a chart and map to highlight state-specific Medicaid or CHIP initiatives that promote children’s preventative services.

Upcoming Events

April

• April 2 or April 9– Center for Health Equity, “Care of Socially At-Risk Patient Populations during the COVID-19 Outbreak.” Webinar.
• April 3 – Camden Coalition and National Center for Complex and Social Needs, “Unique Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals with Complex Health and Social Needs.” Webinar.
• April 14 – Public Health Foundation, “Cross-Sector Collaboration: Making Partnerships Work for Your Community.” Webinar.
• April 15 – Systems for Action, “Optimizing Governmental Health and Social Spending Interactions.” Webinar.
• April 17 – IMPaCT, “Community Health Workers: Social First Responders in the COVID Pandemic.” Webinar.
• April 20 – Aging and Disability Business Institute, “New Opportunities for Community-based Organizations: Supplemental Benefit Flexibilities and Medicare Advantage.” Webinar.
• April 29 – Systems for Action, “Integrating Cross-Sectoral Health and Social Services for the Homeless.” Webinar.

June

• June 20 – Modern Healthcare, “Social Determinants of Health Symposium.” Salt Lake City, UT
• June 28 – RISE, “The Annual Medicare Advantage Mega Conference.” Nashville, TN

SDoH Opportunities

April

• Deadline: April 2 – Public Health National Center for Innovations and the deBeaumont Foundation, Comments on Proposed 10 Essential Public Health Services.
• Deadline: April 3 – Community Care Corps, Request for Proposals: Innovative Local Models to Provide Non-Medical Assistance to Older Americans, Persons with Disabilities, and Family Caregivers.
• Deadline: April 12 – CMS and the Office of Minority Health; Request for Information Regarding Rural Maternal Health Care.

May

• Deadline: May 5 – PCORI, Full Application: Broad PCORI Funding for Cycle 1 2020 for Addressing Disparities, Assessment of Options, Communication and Dissemination Research, Improving Healthcare Systems.
• Deadline: May 15 – Administration for Community Living, Letter of Intent to Participate in Challenge Competition to Generate IT Solutions to Support Integration of Health Care and Human Services.
• Deadline: May 15 – AARP, Community Challenge Grants.

Rolling Basis

• Deadline: Open – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Evidence for Action: Investigator-Initiated Research to Build a Culture of Health.
• Deadline: Open – CityHealth, Seeking Applicants for a Pilot Aimed at Improving Health among Mid-Sized and Smaller Cities.