Health-related social needs (HRSNs)

On February 9, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that eight states and the District of Columbia (DC) have been selected to participate in a new federal initiative, known as the “Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator” (Accelerator), to help strengthen partnerships across housing, disability, aging, and health sectors; access available federal programs and resources, and maximize federal flexibilities to help keep people healthy. The Accelerator will help these states and DC unlock critical resources to reduce homelessness by addressing health-related social needs, such as housing-related services...

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) recently announced a new state-based model, Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH), to test approaches for addressing behavioral and physical health, as well as health-related social needs among the Medicaid and Medicare populations. The IBH Model’s goal is to improve the overall quality of care and outcomes for adults with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder by connecting them with the physical, behavioral, and social supports needed to manage their care. The model will also promote health information technology capacity building through infrastructure payments and other activities...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center’s “Making Care Primary (MCP) Model” team will be answering questions about the forthcoming model in an Office Hours webinar on Tuesday, October 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET. A link to register for the event will be sent via listserv once available. In addition to the live Q&A, attendees will be able to submit questions in advance upon registering. The CMS Innovation Center is currently accepting applications for the Making Care Primary (MCP) Model. Interested organizations are encouraged to begin their applications even if they are not prepared to submit at this time; doing so helps CMS provide more tailored support to applicants. Interested organizations must submit their...

Join the Partnership to Align Social Care, the Aging and Disability Business Institute, and Camden Coalition for a webinar series offering a deep dive into leading contracting practices to effectively and efficiently address health-related social needs (HRSNs). Each webinar in the series will focus on the essential elements of contracting between health care and community partners and feature leading practices from the field. Each event will also highlight key findings from a four-part toolkit, Healthcare Guide to Contracting with CBOs, developed with extensive input from CBOs, health plans, and health systems....