Survey good news for case managers skilled in working with complex populations
Addressing social determinants of health is viewed as a key way to improve population health programs by 80 percent of payers, the website HealthPayer Intelligence is reporting, citing a new Change Healthcare survey.
The online magazine says “the findings in the 8th Annual Industry Pulse Report, commissioned by the HealthCare Executive Group, indicate that payers are taking action to address (social determinants of health) through community programs and screenings as a way to support value-based care initiatives.”
The survey says “the overwhelming majority of … respondents report their organizations have started integrating social determinants of health. The results show a variety of strategies being employed, with 42% including community programs and resources; 33.7% integrating medical data with financial, census, and geographic data to better understand their patient populations; and 33.1% offering social assessments with health risk assessments.”
Public health leaders like Dr. Kelly Pfeifer, Director of the California Health Care Foundation’s (CHCF) High-Value Care Team, have called addressing social determinants like poverty, hunger and housing insecurity “the pressing need of our time.”
In 2016, CHCF teamed up with The SCAN Foundation to underwrite Care Excellence, an online education program for case managers that includes a focus on people with complex-care needs. Effective care managers identify those needs, and assemble the resources to meet them, Pfeifer said.
Read more of that article here.