News

WASHINGTON, DC (April 14, 2021) – Aligning for Health, a coalition of leading health insurers, providers, and vendors, is proud to support the re-introduction of the Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2021 a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Tom Cole (R-OK), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).

The Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2021 will help states and communities devise strategies to leverage existing programs and authorities to address all aspects of health, including food, housing, transportation, and workforce.

Economic and social conditions have a powerful impact on our health and wellness. Known as social determinants of health, a focus on these non-medical factors can improve health outcomes and wellbeing and address disparities. States, local, and Tribal governments are increasingly looking to develop and expand high-impact initiatives that encourage and incentivize collaboration between Medicaid programs and social services programs. However, state, local, and Tribal governments often face challenges in successfully implementing these initiatives due to difficulties in navigating fragmented and complex programs.

The Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2021 will provide planning grants and technical assistance to state, local, and Tribal governments who want to devise innovative, evidence-based approaches to coordinate programs and services to improve health and wellbeing for Medicaid beneficiaries.

The bipartisan legislation was previously introduced in the House in July 2019, and in the Senate in December 2019.

“Aligning for Health is proud to support the reintroduction of the Social Determinants Accelerator Act,” said Melissa Quick, co-chair of Aligning for Health, “The legislation will catalyze cross-sector collaboration and will give state and local officials the resources they need to get beyond the siloes and develop innovative solutions to complex problems.”

“CSH strongly supports the Social Determinants Accelerator Act,” said Deborah De Santis, President and CEO of Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), “The Supportive Housing Industry for decades has seen the impact on the health of our residents and potential residents, due to the lack of access to the SDOH including housing, food, and safe, thriving communities.  We have also seen the impact of systemic and institutional racism, that has made access to SDOH less likely for communities of color. We are hopeful that as communities have more accurate information and the ability to work more effectively across sectors, as supported by the Social Determinants Accelerator Act, the opportunities for those needs to be addressed will improve.”

“Our surroundings – including where we are born, live, work and age – all have an impact on our health. This is why we need better coordination of care with programs that seek to address health and social needs,” said Justine Handelman, senior vice president of the Office of Policy and Representation for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We strongly support the Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2021, which will help communities work together to break down barriers, improve overall health and advance health equity.”

“As a health insurer committed to address health disparities, UPMC Health Plan strongly supports this common-sense, bipartisan bill which enhances the ability of the health care payers and providers to mitigate the causes of inequities with state collaborations,” said John Lovelace, President, Government Programs, UPMC Health Plan.  “In addition to providing new tools to states looking at these issues, the Social Determinants Accelerator Act provides more resources to enhance existing state and community-based partnerships to address health inequities.”

“LISC invests in quality affordable housing, safety, good education, job opportunities and financial stability because they all factor into the health and well-being of a community. We enthusiastically support the Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Act because it will help states devise approaches that leverage the expertise of partners from multiple sectors – including community based organizations – who are committed to advancing health equity and closing interconnected racial health and wealth gaps,” said Julia Ryan, Vice President of Health Initiatives, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

“This Act is an impressive first step toward the prioritization of social needs as an essential component of preserving health and preventing (rather than treating) the consequences of unmet social needs such as food, housing, and transportation,” said Jacob Reider, Chief Executive Officer of Alliance for Better Health, “This work transcends benevolence:  it’s a good business decision for the Nation to prevent the suffering (and spending) that occurs when individuals’ social needs are neglected.”

“The America Forward Coalition includes 100+ social innovation organizations working every day, across the country to measurably improve lives. Through their work, we’ve seen that siloed systems of health and social service programs too often hinder effective partnerships with government, which could build evidence and scale effective approaches in early childhood, education, workforce development, and supportive housing services that make families and communities healthier. This much needed, bipartisan legislation will help unlock critical resources to fund prevention, encourage state and local innovation, build cross-sectoral partnerships, and make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Roger Low, Policy Director at America Forward and Aligning for Health Advisory Board Member.

About Aligning for Health – Aligning for Health members include: Alliance for Better Health, American Hospital Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, CareSource, Centene, HCSC, Signify Health, UPMC Health Plan, and Unite Us.

Additional information about Aligning for Health may be found at www.AligningforHealth.org.

Supporting Organizations

The Social Determinants Accelerator Act of 2021 has been endorsed by several organizations, including: Aligning for Health, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, Acelero Learning, Adagio Health, Alliance for Better Health, America Forward, American Association of Service Coordinators, America’s Essential Hospitals, America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, America’s Promise Alliance, AMGA, Amida Care, Anthem, Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, Association of American Medical Colleges, Aurora Institute, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, CareSource, Centene, Children’s Hospital Association, Citizen Schools, City Year Inc., Corporation for Supportive Housing, Council on Social Work Education, Early Learning Alliance, Enterprise Community Partners, Forum for Youth Investment, Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, GreenLight Fund, Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center, Healthcare Leadership Council, Humana, iMentor, Institute for Child Success, KidSucceed LLC, Let’s Grow Kids, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Lutheran Services in America, Maxim Healthcare Services, Inc., Maycomb Capital Community Outcomes Fund, Medical Group Management Association, Molina, National Association of Accountable Care Organizations, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, National Association of Counties, National Association of Social Workers, National Coalition on Health Care, National League of Cities, Nemours Children’s Health System, New Profit, New Teacher Center, Nonprofit Finance Fund, Nurse-Family Partnership, Orange County Board of Supervisors, Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, Penn Center for Community Health Workers, Primary Care Collaborative, Project Evident, Purchaser Business Group on Health, Quantified Ventures, REDF, Results for America, Roca, Share Our Strength, Signify Health, Single Stop, SNP Alliance, Social Finance, Solera, Springboard Collaborative, StriveTogether, The Community Transportation Association of America, Uber Health, UPMC Health Plan, URAC, Wyman Center, and YMCA of the USA.

February 25, 2021

Aligning for Health is proud to support the introduction of the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act (S. 509), bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT).

The LINC to Address Social Needs Act will assist states in building statewide or regional collaborations to better coordinate health care and social services by leveraging local expertise and technology to help connect people to food, housing, child development, job training, and transportation supports and services.

These and other social challenges have been proven to have clear implications on wellbeing and on population health. However, today’s health and social services systems and services are largely siloed. Investments to better align and coordinate between health care and social service providers will yield better, more holistic health outcomes, reduce preventable health costs, and keep the most vulnerable populations from falling through the cracks.

The LINC to Address Social Needs Act will provide one-time seed funding for states to facilitate cross-sector communication, service coordination and consumer assistance, referral and capacity management, and outcome tracking between social service providers and health care organizations. States, through public private partnerships, may establish or expand existing secure, connected technology networks and provide technical assistance and support to entities in connecting to the network. States will have flexibility to design networks that are responsive to the unique cultures and needs of their state. After the initial startup period, these self-sustaining public-private partnerships will serve as a nexus for coordinated efforts to address social and health needs regionally and across states.

This bill will create a new and unprecedented ability to share data and measure the impact of social interventions on health, health care spending, and community wellbeing. It will also allow health and social service organizations to better coordinate care and ensure maximum impact for available resources.

“As an organization dedicated to catalyzing the change that will break down the barriers between health and social service organizations, we applaud Senators Sullivan and Murphy for their leadership in introducing the LINC to Address Social Needs Act,” said Melissa Quick, co-chair of Aligning for Health. “The legislation will help to build and expand shared community resource referral networks, helping to improve coordination between the health care and social service sectors. Aligning for Health looks forward to the passage of this exciting legislation.”

The LINC to Address Social Needs Act has been endorsed by several organizations, including: Aligning for Health, Alliance for Better Health, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, AMGA, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Council on Social Work Education, Healthcare Leadership Council, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), National Association of ACOs, National Coalition on Health Care, Nemours Children’s Health System, Purchaser Business Group on Health, Signify Health, SNP Alliance, Unite Us, UPMC Health Plan, Well-being and Equity (WE) in the World, and Well Being Trust.

Endorsing Statements

“The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) enthusiastically supports the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act and urges its swift adoption by Congress. This legislation not only makes critical investments in multi-sector coordination and collaboration to address the social determinants of health but also takes the important step of welcoming community-based organizations into the fold. These organizations have the knowledge and relationships that are critical to implement solutions that the LINC structure can advance.” – Julia Ryan, Vice President, Health Initiatives, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)

“Access, coverage and quality only matter when we break down barriers to care and address the social factors influencing health care delivery,” said John Lovelace, President of UPMC for You and of Government Programs and Individual Advantage Products for UPMC Health Plan, “By providing states with the right tools to connect health with human services, the LINC Act will help deliver meaningful, measurable improvements in communities impacted by longstanding health care inequities and disparities.”

“Our surroundings have a deep impact on our health, which is why we need to better coordinate care and community resources across health and social services providers to improve overall health and advance health equity,” said Justine Handelman, senior vice president of the Office of Policy and Representation for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We strongly support the LINC to Address Social Needs Act, which will help to catalyze additional coordination and break down barriers to care.”

Signify Health applauds Senators Sullivan (AK) and Murphy (CT) for introducing the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act. This legislation would establish statewide or regional partnerships to better coordinate health and social care services while leveraging innovative technology to connect people to their local resources for food, housing, transportation and other support programs. As a company that enables outcomes-focused networks to address social determinants of health, we believe this legislation is an important step to closing gaps in care and overcoming care coordination barriers.

“Research increasingly points to the important role of the social determinants of health, or the conditions in the places people live, learn, work, and play, which affect approximately 80 percent of patient health outcomes. While it is critical to recognize and understand the impact of social determinants of health, it’s even more important to develop solutions to address these key factors,” said American Medical Association President Susan R. Bailey, M.D. “The AMA applauds Senators Sullivan and Murphy for introducing the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act as it develops actionable solutions via grants and public-private partnerships to better connect physicians and other health care providers to social services organizations that help patients overcome long standing challenges associated with social determinants of health.”

“It is more important now than ever, in the face of nationwide COVID-19 related health and social challenges, that we make critical investments in child and family health,” said Kara Odom Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, EVP, the Chief Population Health Officer at Nemours Children’s Health System. “The LINC to Address Social Needs Act would make such an investment in technology infrastructure to connect health care and community social service organizations, addressing the growing need for whole-child and whole-family care.”

“Advancing value-based payment in health care, which is sorely needed, will require addressing patients’ housing, transportation and nutrition needs. The LINC Act takes important steps to integrate important social services and health care, which has been separated for far too long. NAACOS is proud to support this legislation.” – Clif Gaus, Sc.D, president and CEO of the National Association of ACOs

“LINC addresses the crucial need to finance local infrastructure for the health-social service ecosystem, under the key condition that it be built and governed to reflect the public-private partnerships we will need to make genuine SDOH progress in our diverse country.” – Len M. Nichols, Professor Emeritus, George Mason University

February 22, 2021

This month, Congress has taken several steps to help improve maternal health and to address the significant disparities in maternal health outcomes in the U.S.

On Monday, February 8, the Black Maternal Health Caucus introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 (H.R. 959), a 12-bill package that builds on existing legislation and is intended to comprehensively address gaps and invest in evidence-based solutions to improve maternal health outcomes.

Aligning for Health is pleased to see further action on maternal health – a top priority of a number of our members and advisory board. Aligning for Health supports and encourages passage of key components of the “Momnibus” – including the Social Determinants for Moms Act (H.R. 943), the Kira Johnson Act, the Moms Matter Act (H.R. 909), the IMPACT to Save Moms Act (H.R. 950), and the Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act. These bills would make critical investments in social determinants that influence maternal health outcomes; provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to improve maternal health outcomes and promote equity; make investments in community-based programs to support moms with maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders; and promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality maternity care, among other provisions. These are critical actions that require comprehensive, coordinated solutions and we applaud the sponsors for introducing legislation that would make these critical investments.

Additionally, on Friday, February 12 the House Energy & Commerce Committee advanced a provision that would allow states to extend Medicaid coverage to postpartum individuals for up to 12 months for five years as part of its American Rescue Plan legislation. Providing comprehensive, stable coverage during the postpartum period will provide new mothers with needed access to the care they need. Aligning for Health supports full enactment of this provision.

Aligning for Health is an advocacy organization focused on addressing the barriers and challenges that limit our ability to improve health outcomes and wellbeing for all. As a coalition, we are focused on developing and promoting actionable policies to address such challenges and to create opportunities for cross-sector, coordinated solutions to address health and social needs and to improve health equity.