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Overcoming barriers to health care investment in social determinants of health

K. Sweeney
Green & Healthy Homes Initiative

Despite the strong evidence to support addressing SDOH through integration of medical and nonmedical services, many health care organizations and community-based providers have struggled to build sustainable partnerships. The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) has worked with partners across the US, from health plans to providers to community-based organizations, to address this challenge, seeing firsthand the barriers, both perceived and real, that exist. We truly believe that these barriers are surmountable and the benefits to overcoming them are immense.

Our goal in this brief is to provide an overview of the perceived and real barriers to sustainable health care investment in the SDOH, with evidence to combat the former and solutions to overcome the latter. Though much of the information provided can be applied to improve health care outcomes across populations enrolled in commercial insurance or Medicare, the brief will focus on the Medicaid population, which stands to benefit the most from SDOH interventions. This brief will not address the case for investing in SDOH, as other papers from GHHI and external sources have done this thoroughly.

Sweeney K. Overcoming Barriers to Health Care Investment in Social Determinants of Health. Green & Healthy Homes Initiative; March 2021. Available online.

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Publication year
Resource type
Issue Briefs & Reports
Population
Medicaid-insured
Social Determinant of Health
Housing Quality
Not Specified