HHS test will try addressing social needs to improve health

Modern Healthcare: The CMS will pay $157 million to find out if tackling the social conditions that affect health leads to lower healthcare costs and better care, an approach that a growing number of health providers have explored in recent years with little or no direct support from payers.

Under a five-year pilot program announced Tuesday, the CMS Innovation Center will award grant funding to 44 “bridge organizations” to screen Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries for health-related social needs with the goal of providing help toward connecting them with local social services.

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