Social Determinants Updates |
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February 3 to February 17, 2023
Welcome to Aligning for Health's bi-weekly Social Determinants Updates newsletter.
To add news or events to this newsletter, email info@aligningforhealth.org.
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Member News
American Hospital Association: AHA Committee on Maternal and Child Health names 2023 leaders (2/15) – The American Hospital Association announced the leaders of its Committee on Maternal and Child Health for 2023. The Committee serves as a resource on policy issues and guides AHA’s ongoing work on maternal and child health.
NYN Media: New York City’s largest public health nonprofit launches community resource network (2/11) – Public Health Solutions, New York City’s largest public health nonprofit, launched WholeYouNYC, a coordinated community resource network aimed at bridging the gap between health care and social services for low-income New Yorkers. WholeYouNYC leverages the Unite Us platform to coordinate referrals through more than 400 community organizations offering more than 870 programs across all five boroughs.
BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation: Health Care Equity Index Launches (2/8) – BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation, an independent entity of BCBSA health plan Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, is developing a statewide health care equity index to help improve health outcomes for all North Carolinians. The North Carolina Health Care Equity Index will establish a consistent way to measure health inequities allowing the state’s health care system to measure and guide various efforts to improve health equity in the state.
Healthcare Financial Management Association: Why community partnerships are so critical for promoting health (1/24) – We are beginning to see an increase in partnerships to address health care and social needs. Healthy Alliance is one organization working to bridge these partnerships; this article interviews Healthy Alliance CEO Erica Coletti, where she describes the organization as being dedicated to addressing social needs that could lead to medical problems if left unchecked.
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Legislative Roundup
Rep. Mann: Reps. Mann, McGovern Relaunch House Hunger Caucus (2/9) - Reps. Mann (R-KS) and McGovern (D-MA) announced the relaunch of the bipartisan House Hunger Caucus, a forum for Members of Congress to discuss, advance, engage, and work on issues related to domestic and international hunger and food insecurity.
STOP Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act (2/9) - Sen. Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Study, Treat, Observe, and Prevent (STOP) Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act (S. 324), which would authorize the Secretary of HHS to carry out activities relating to neglected diseases of poverty. The bill would create an Interagency Task Force to provide recommendations to the HHS Secretary, provide resources to states to implement a public health surveillance system to determine prevalence and distribution of these illnesses, require the development of educational programs, and facilitate research to address and eliminate these diseases.
Homelessness and Behavioral Health Care Coordination Act (2/2) - Reps. Dean (D-PA) and Garcia (D-TX) introduced the Homelessness and Behavioral Health Care Coordination Act (H.R. 773), which would help persons in the United States experiencing homelessness and significant behavioral health issues, including substance use disorders, by authorizing a grant program within the Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist State and local governments, Continuums of Care, community-based organizations that administer both health and homelessness services, and providers of services to people experiencing homelessness, better coordinate health care and homelessness services.
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Administration Updates
NIMHD: PhenX Toolkit SDOH Collection Update (2/16) – The NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) released its newly expanded PhenX Toolkit Social Determinants of Health Collection. The expansion to this collection adds new protocols to measure individual and structural factors that shape behaviors and health outcomes. The toolkit now includes 37 measurement protocols for use in research where information is being collected from individuals about various factors.
White House: President Biden Signs Executive Order to Strengthen Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Across the Federal Government (2/16) – President Biden signed a new Executive Order to strengthen the federal government’s ability to address the barriers that underserved communities continue to face and reaffirm the Administration’s commitment to delivering equity. The Executive Order launches a new annual process to strengthen racial equity and support for underserved communities, and directs agencies to produce an annual public Equity Action Plan to assess and include actions to address barriers facing underserved communities. It also promotes data equity and transparency and strengthens community partnerships, among other areas.
ONC: Is Health IT Ready for SDOH-Focused Clinical Decision Support? (2/15) - In a brief titled The Feasibility of Social Determinants of Health Clinical Decision Support, ONC explores how clinical practice guidelines that include SDOH factors present an opportunity to advance health equity and improve health outcomes. A standardized approach to clinical decision support (CDS) using SDOH factors can enable clinical practice guidelines to become part of routine care delivery. Such an approach has the potential for broad implementation in a variety of settings and with various systems.
USDA: Biden-Harris Administration Provides $262M to Improve Access to Jobs, Health Care and Infrastructure Across Rural Partners Network (2/15) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it is providing $262 million to improve access to jobs, health care and infrastructure for people in historically underserved communities across the Rural Partners Network (RPN). RPN was established to transform the way federal agencies partner with and serve rural people and places, including Native American communities.
CMS: Addressing Rural Health Inequities in Medicare (2/10) - CMS published a blog on addressing rural health inequities in Medicare, which is a cornerstone of CMS’ effort to improve health equity. The blog notes how CMS will support rural providers, expand access to care in rural areas, and transform the rural health delivery system.
CDC: New Detailed Race and Ethnicity Data Query System (2/9) - The CDC released an interactive data query system that allows users to search for data on adults about selected health topics by detailed race and ethnicity groups and subgroups in the U.S. The new system provides estimates as three-year averages based on 2019-2021 final data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).
USDA: SNAP Waiver Requests to Offer Incentives to SNAP Recipients at SNAP Authorized Stores (2/8) - The USDA Food and Nutrition Service released a notice on the SNAP Retailer Incentive Waiver Request, which would offer SNAP recipients incentives at SNAP authorized retailer locations that encourage them to purchase healthier foods. Comments are due by April 10, 2023.
CMS: List of Screening Instruments for Housing Stability, Food Security, and Transportation Questions on Health Risk Assessments (2/6) - CMS released an updated proposed guidance on the list of screening instruments available for Medicare Advantage special needs plans (SNPs) to meet the new requirement to include one or more questions on housing stability, food security, and access to transportation in health risk assessments beginning in contract year 2024. The updated guidance includes minor clarifications in which SNPs may use a state-required screening instrument and begin the process of creating health IT coding for them. Comments are due March 8.
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SDoH & Health Equity in the News
Stat News: Can food be medicine? Will insurers cover it? And other big questions about a new health movement (2/16) – After decades of obscurity, the “food is medicine” movement is gaining traction, but the hard part is actually integrating food into medical practice. Interviewers found that two of the biggest barriers to doing so include the lack of good research demonstrating what conditions best respond to food, and regulatory requirements that keep certain insurers from offering these services to their members.
Humana: Humana Foundation Announces New Strategy to Eliminate Barriers to Equitable Health and Healthcare (2/13) – The Humana Foundation announced a new strategy to advance health equity by eliminating unjust and unnecessary barriers in health and health care. The foundation will invest in community-centered partners and evidence-based programs that support seniors, veterans and school-aged children in living connected, healthy lives, focusing on creating healthy emotional connections.
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Begins Allowing Medicaid Money to be Spent on Food (2/12) - The Biden Administration has started approving state requests to use Medicaid to pay for groceries and nutritional counseling as policy makers explore whether “food as medicine” programs can lead to broad health benefits and trim costs. A growing body of research suggests that addressing food insecurity can improve health as well as deliver savings by reducing medical visits, the need for medication, or by helping control serious illness.
AP News: California health program successfully cut hospital visits (2/8) – California’s Whole Person Care pilot program, a five year experiment aimed at improving care for some of California’s most at-risk Medicaid patients (including homeless people and people with substance use disorders), resulted in fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits. The program focused on medical care and social services like transportation and housing assistance, ultimately saving $383 per patient per year.
JAMA Health Forum: Viewpoint – Financing Health Care System Interventions Addressing Social Risks (2/3) - Health care-involved social risk interventions frequently contain two unstated assumptions: that health care involvement is uniformly beneficial, and that such involvement should be financed by increasing capitated payments for those at greater social risk. In this Viewpoint, authors discuss these assumptions, the benefits and drawbacks of health care’s involvement in social risk interventions, and proposals to finance such involvement.
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Maternal Health
American Heart Association: To improve maternal health, report says to start before pregnancy (2/13) - A woman's heart health prior to becoming pregnant greatly affects her risk for pregnancy-related complications and the long-term cardiovascular health of both mother and child, according to a new report
that calls for greater attention to the issue. Improving maternal heart health during this period could help break the generational cycle of poor cardiovascular health that has become a growing problem in the U.S., particularly among women whose health is affected by structural racism and other adverse social conditions.
New York Times: Childbirth is Deadlier for Black Families Even When They’re Rich, Expansive Study Finds (2/12) – Research has repeatedly shown that Black mothers and babies have the worst childbirth outcomes in the U.S. A new novel study revealed how the risks of childbirth vary by both race and parental income, and how Black families, regardless of their socioeconomic status, are disproportionately affected.
Patient Engagement HIT: Poor Health Payer Coverage Fuels Rural Maternal Health Disparities (2/7) – New data
from Michigan Medicine suggests rural-urban maternal health disparities may stem from a lack of health payer coverage. Researchers looked at the differences in health insurance coverage by geographic location and the implications it holds for rural-urban inequities in maternity care access, finding that rural residents who were non-Hispanic White, married, and with intended pregnancies were less likely to have adequate or continuous payer coverage across the study period compared to urban counterparts.
Milbank Memorial Fund: Who Delivers Maternal and Child Health Services? The Contributions of Public Health and Other Community Partners (1/30) – Local health departments with direct maternal and child health service provisions exhibit greater social service collaboration, thereby enhancing community capacity to improve health care access and social determinant support. These findings may prioritize collaboration as a community-based effort to reduce disparities in maternal and child health and chronic disease.
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New Research and Reports
National League of Cities: Where to Start for Resources for City Leaders Addressing Homelessness (2/16) – The Biden Administration recently announce its goal of reducing homelessness nationally by 25 percent by 2025, which comes with the challenge of identifying the best path forward and best approaches to fit the needs of a given population experiencing homelessness. The National League of Cities (NLC) created a list of resources and tools from the federal government and NLC that are well-suited for communities revisiting their approach or launching a new campaign to address homelessness at the local level.
AHIMA: Social Determinants of Health Data – Survey Results on the Collection, Integration and Use (2/14) - The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) released a report, which was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, with results from a survey of health information professionals which found that nearly eight in 10 health care organizations currently collect SDOH data but still face challenges related to collection, coding, and use of this clinically relevant data. One key finding includes lack of standardization and integration of the data into an individual’s medical record, even when the data is collected within the organization.
PNAS: Social Frailty Index – Development and validation of an index of social attributes predictive of mortality in older adults (2/7) – Researchers examined older adults from the Health and Retirement Study to develop and validate a parsimonious index of Social Frailty, which uses age, gender, and eight social characteristics to predict four year mortality risk. The survey predicts longevity, as well as other outcomes important to older adults like living independently, and highlights the importance of non-medical conditions on health.
CityHealth: Addressing America’s Housing Crisis (February 2023) – Cities can lead in addressing America’s housing challenges by adopting local policy solutions that can increase affordable housing and improve health and racial equity. This report
explores three policies to promote health and equity in housing: affordable housing trusts, healthy rental housing, and legal support for renters.
Center for Health Care Strategies: Financing Approaches to Address SDOH via Medicaid Managed Care – A 12-State Review
(February 2023) – This report
reviews how 12 states are financing Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) health-related social needs (HRSNs) activities and using federal flexibilities to do so. The report outlines common themes across state financing approaches and includes examples of state activities to inform state and MCO efforts across the country.
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SDoH Opportunities
February - September
Rolling Basis
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