Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Social, Environmental Factors Can Provide Missing Link To What's Causing Health Problems For Patients
Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Tackling Social Determinants Are Setting Industry Course
Individual behaviors are the largest contributors to premature death, accounting for 40%, according to a 2007 New England Journal of Medicine story, while healthcare made up just 10%. The concept of social determinants of health was first introduced to U.S. policy in the 1960s when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War of Poverty that brought about Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, Job Corps and Head Start. (Johnson, 8/25)
Modern Healthcare: Payers Can't Control Costs Without Social Determinants Of Health Model
The movement to better address the social and environmental factors that affect health has insurance companies and other payers looking beyond the hospital or clinic and stepping into the community to give patients help where it's needed. That might mean giving patients free Lyft rides to the doctor's office; connecting them with a food bank or footing the bill for home-delivered meals; or financing temporary housing. Medicaid programs in some states are requiring insurers to screen beneficiaries for social and environmental factors that could lead to poor health. (Livingston, 8/25)
