Health Equity

More than 80 percent of payer executives indicate their organization is integrating social determinants of health data into their member programs, according to a Change Healthcare survey.

HASA, a health information exchange in Texas, launched a pilot program with San Antonio-based Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas to add social determinants of health data alongside patient clinical information, the San Antonio Business Journal reports.

Across all income levels, two-thirds of U.S. adults cite health insurance costs as a stressor, according to a report from the American Psychological Association. 

For Kentucky Medicaid members facing loss of coverage for not meeting a newly instated work requirement, the state said members can regain coverage by passing a health literacy course, The Boston Globe reports.

Today, much of the conversation around opioid use focuses on ways to more tightly control access, including limits on usage and the mandatory use of databases that can alert physicians to patients’ opioid histories.

Unstable housing is linked to a greater likelihood for diabetes-related emergency department visits and hospitalization, according to a study published in Diabetes Care.

The number of uninsured Americans increased 1.3 percentage points in 2017, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-being Index.

Integrating social determinants of health data into predictive models doesn't always improve their ability to identify patients in need of social services, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

CMS issued proposed changes to the way Medicare Advantage beneficiary risk is scored in 2019, which would incorporate mental health, substance abuse disorder and chronic kidney disease into the risk-adjustment model.

The expansion of Medicaid to about 17 million more adults under the ACA had a positive side effect — more children of parents with Medicaid went to annual well care visits, according to a study published in Pediatrics.