About Aligning for Health

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Aligning for Health has created 162 blog entries.

Social Determinants Updates | January 6, 2023

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2023-01-06T21:02:35+00:00January 6th, 2023|SDoH Clips|

Aligning for Health Applauds Key SDOH Provisions Included in FY2023 Omnibus Appropriations

On December 20, 2022, House and Senate Appropriators released the text of the FY2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which includes $1.7 trillion in appropriations for fiscal year 2023 and several key health care extenders and new authorizations. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 was signed into law by President Biden on on December 29, 2022.

Aligning for Health was thrilled to see the inclusion of many key social determinants of health policies, funding, and initiatives included in this package. Along with the appropriations bill, the accompanying Joint Explanatory Statement, which cross-references the House Committee on Appropriations Report for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations, includes additional details related to the appropriated amounts.

Most notably:

  • CDC’s Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Grants continue to be funded at $8M for FY23.
  • Section 2201, Addressing Factors Related to Improving Health Outcomes, stems from the Senate HELP Committee’s PREVENT Pandemics Act and includes similar concepts as the Aligning for Health-endorsed Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act and the Social Determinants Accelerator Act. Aligning for Health has provided feedback on previous versions of this provision and looks forward to working with the Administration on its implementation.
    • Section 2201 authorizes the HHS Secretary to award $35M a year in grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to states or other eligible entities to support the implementation of strategies to address factors related to health outcomes; to establish, maintain or improve technology platforms or networks to support coordination and information sharing; implementation of best practices; and supporting consideration of factors related to health outcomes in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies.

Other notable provisions include:

  • CMS – Social Determinants of Health. —The Committee encourages CMS to continue to clarify and disseminate strategies that States can implement under current Medicaid and CHIP authority, or through waivers, to address social determinants of health (SDOH) in the provision of health care, including strategies specifically targeting the pediatric population. This should include guidance on how States can encourage and incentivize managed care organizations to address SDOH through contracts.
  • CMS – Utilization of Z Codes for Social Determinants of Health. — The Committee is concerned about whether the current Z codes definitions are expansive and specific enough to track the SDOH impacting underserved communities. To help reduce these barriers, the Committee encourages HHS to update the current Z code definitions and establish a national standard to review SDOH to ensure physicians nationwide use the same tools to analyze SDOH. The Committee requests a briefing within 180 days of the date of enactment of this Act on the current utilization of Z codes, how HHS suggests the Z codes definitions could be updated to better track SDOH impacting underserved communities and recommendations on how to increase the utilization of Z codes.
  • CMS – Social Determinants of Health Analytics. —. The Committee requests a report within 180 days of the date of enactment of this Act on efforts by CMS to ensure the transparency by MA and MCO plans in the use of data of beneficiaries in addressing SDOH, how CMS ensures that MA and MCO plans notify beneficiaries of the use of protected or consumer data, and how ongoing CMS work with MA and MCOs around SDOH and the use of consumer data and protected medical information aligns with and improves health equity as per the goals of Executive Order 13985 and the HHS’s Equity Action Plan.

Below we have pulled notable provisions related to social determinants of health, health equity, and maternal health that were included as part of this package. You can also find this summary here.

AFH - SDOH in FY2023 Omnibus Appropriations Package - 12.20.22
2023-01-06T03:39:18+00:00December 21st, 2022|Press Release|

Social Determinants Updates | December 16, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2022-12-16T18:11:38+00:00December 16th, 2022|SDoH Clips|

Social Determinants Updates | December 2, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2022-12-02T19:48:23+00:00December 2nd, 2022|SDoH Clips|

Social Determinants Updates | November 11, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2022-11-14T16:36:12+00:00November 14th, 2022|SDoH Clips|

Aligning for Health Comments on CMS Make Your Voice Heard RFI

Aligning for Health submitted comments in response to the CMS “Make Your Voice Heard: Promoting Efficiency and Equity Within CMS Programs” Request for Information (RFI).

Through this RFI, CMS is seeking to better understand individual and community-level burdens, health-related social needs, and opportunities for improvement that can reduce disparities and promote efficiency and innovation across our programs. CMS requested information related to strategies that successfully address drivers of health inequities, including opportunities to address social determinants of health and challenges underserved communities face in accessing comprehensive, quality care.

Aligning for Health supports many of the steps that the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to prioritize equity for all, including through initiatives to address social determinants of health. Our comments focused on questions posed in the RFI as it pertains to opportunities to better understand and address health-related social needs and to embed health equity into all CMS efforts, to include:

  • The need for coordination across sectors to reduce siloes and and better coordinate health care and social services;
  • Identifying and addressing social needs and disparities through improved data collection and standardization, screening for social needs, and assessment for if health-related social needs are being met;
  • Addressing data sharing within federal health programs and ensuring community-based organizations have the capacity to assist with connecting individuals to resources to meet their needs; and other areas.

To read our comments, click here or see below:

AFH - CMS Make Your Voice Heard RFI - FINAL
2023-03-08T19:52:33+00:00November 7th, 2022|Press Release|

Social Determinants Updates | October 28, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2022-10-31T14:57:26+00:00October 31st, 2022|SDoH Clips|

Social Determinants Updates | October 14, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Aligning for Health Social Determinants Updates. Please click the button below to see our newsletter which contains updates on how health care organizations are striving to meet health and social needs and invest in community health to improve health equity, notable links to research, data, and news related to health disparities and social determinants, and upcoming virtual events and opportunities.

Read Our Newsletter
2022-10-17T14:51:22+00:00October 17th, 2022|SDoH Clips|

Social Determinants of Health Policy Forum – Nov. 28-30, 2022

Aligning for Health was pleased to partner with RISE on the inaugural Social Determinants of Health Policy Forum, which took place November 28-30, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

The event brought together more than 250 policymakers, policy experts, and practitioners from across the health and social services sectors to engage with government leaders about policies that address the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes and funding opportunities to increase coordination and improve well-being and whole-person care.

The conference kicked off with volunteers helping to pack nearly 16,000 meals with U.S. Hunger on Monday, November 28, which were donated to the Capital Area Food Bank. The first full day of the conference featured keynote remarks from the White House, CDC, and CMS, as well as other industry leaders. Day two featured discussions on federal cross-sector partnerships with officials from HHS, HUD, CMS, FCC, and USDA and on partnerships with health and social service providers with speakers from ONC, ACL, and the Gravity Project. We rounded out the conference hearing about insights from the Congressional SDoH Caucus and the latest national legislation related to SDoH from congressional staffers. Read on below to view the final agenda with all the incredible speakers from throughout the conference, and to read key takeaways from this impactful event!

Final Agenda
Day 1 Recap
Day 2 Recap

November 28, 2022

November 29, 2022

November 30, 2022

2023-09-14T22:09:13+00:00October 5th, 2022|Events, SDOH Policy Forum|

AFH Holds Briefing on Coordinating Funding & Data to Address SDOH

On September 29, 2022, Aligning for Health held a briefing highlighting programs and best practices on coordinating funding and data to address social determinants of health, featuring perspectives and examples from the federal government, state and local leaders, and their partners.

Addressing social determinants of health requires coordinating services, benefits, and care across both the health care and social services sectors. Often, the funding and administration of each of these programs is siloed, with minimal flexibility to leverage health care funding to pay for social needs, or to share data across programs on eligibility, enrollment, or utilization of services. Organizations across the country have long worked to close these gaps and find ways to coordinate across sectors, and recently there has been growing interest in aligning incentives and providing more flexibility and opportunities for programs to collaborate.

Speakers: 
  • Dr. Sandra Ford, Special Assistant to the President for Public Health and Science at the White House
  • Erica Coletti, CEO, Healthy Alliance
  • Sue Polis, Director, Health & Wellness, National League of Cities
  • Amy Riegel, Executive Director, Coalition on Homelessness & Housing in Ohio (COHHIO)
  • Krista Drobac, Co-Chair, Aligning for Health (moderator)
Recorded on September 29, 2022

2022-10-03T17:16:22+00:00October 3rd, 2022|Press, Press Release|
Load More Posts
Go to Top