SDoH in the News
American Medical Association: (9/2) - The American Medical Association announced a series of CME and educational activities aimed at addressing the root cause of inequities, including racism and other structural determinants of health. This content is aimed at equipping physicians and other learners with core health equity concepts needed to support them as they continue to take action and confront health inequities.
Patient Engagement HIT: (9/1) - Uber Health and the Texas Medicaid program announced it will expand its medical transportation partnership to expand access to care to 4.4 million people, helping to address transportation as a leading social determinant of health. The partnership will allow Medicaid beneficiaries in Texas to order rides to and from medical appointments from the Uber app, which will be considered a covered service by their Medicaid plan.
Urban Institute: (9/1) - This article highlights an event held by Urban Institute on how changes in local and federal policy can improve housing stability, housing affordability, and wealth building opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities. Experts at the event highlighted three key ways to improve housing stability and racial equity for these populations in the long-term: 1) focus on affordable housing to make progress toward racial equity; 2) boost capacity at every level of government to alleviate housing instability among these households; and 3) transform systems to ensure they are creating the most equitable outcomes.
Health Leaders Media: (9/1) - UnitedHealthcare added a data analytics capability to its social determinants of health efforts to better target plan members for social needs support. The payer uses claims information and data analytics to target health plan members who have social determinant needs, and a key metric to measure the impact of such efforts is the percentage of health plan members who accept offers of support. UnitedHealthcare uses a three-pronged approach to addressing social determinants: data analytics; active listening; and employing a social needs questionnaire.
Maximus: (9/1) - In Part Two of its “Best practices and tools for advancing health equity for underserved communities” series, Maximus looks at two specific best practices: procurement and contracting, and stakeholder and community engagement. Agencies and programs can drive equity in a number of ways through the contracting process, such as including standard diversity and inclusion language in government contracts. Additionally, close partnerships with community-serving organizations and community leadership are essential to creating resilient communities, building trust, and addressing inequities in underserved communities.
News Wise: (8/31) - The Fund for Health, a partnership between Penn Medicine and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, seeks to invest in early-stage businesses striving to strengthen social determinants of health of economically disadvantaged individuals in Philadelphia. The partnership announced its plan to invest $5 million over the next three years to push for measurable progress in socioeconomic factors that impact long-term health, selecting three companies to receive $750,000 for the first round of funding.
Multi-Housing News: (8/27) - The NRP Group and other national developers actively partner with hospitals and other health care providers to address social determinants of health in low-income communities across the country through the Health and Housing Initiative (formerly Housing First). This initiative also aims to promote healthy neighborhoods through affordable housing. In this article, NRP Group Vice President of Development & Head Affordable Housing Aaron Pechota is interviewed about the initiative and how it helps provide affordable housing options.
State of Reform: (8/26) - Leaders across the health care sector in Virginia met for a cross-disciplinary strategy meeting on improving health equity across the Commonwealth. Panelists discussed topics such as payment parity, affordable housing, broadband access, and education at the 2021 Virtual Colloquium Addressing Health Equity in Virginia, hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University. Several keynote speakers highlighted various efforts to address equity across the state, and cited data to stress factors such as how health care delivery models in urban areas may not work for rural communities, for example.
New York State Department of Health: (8/25) - New York State submitted a section 1115 demonstration waiver proposal requesting $17 billion in new Medicaid funding over five years to address health disparities and systemic health care delivery issues that have been highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal includes four goals: building a more resilient, flexible, and integrated delivery system; developing supportive housing and alternatives to institutions for the long-term care population; redesigning and strengthening health and behavioral health system capabilities; and creating statewide digital health and telehealth infrastructure.
Patient Engagement HIT: (8/23) - The National Quality Forum (NQF) will convene industry stakeholders through its Health Equity Advisory Group to discuss how to use clinical quality measures to assess health equity, including logistical challenges involved with such an endeavor. This work will start with an effort to embed equity into clinical quality measures across the care continuum to improve health equity, which has posed a challenge given most quality data is not stratified by demographic.
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services: (8/18) - The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of Human Services announced the PA Health Equity Analysis Tool (HEAT), an interactive map that synthesizes Medical Assistance and population health data to show opportunities for intervention to promote better health and health equity. The tool provides state, county, zip code, and census track-level data on a number of population health measures and how they affect local communities and the state as a whole.
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