Promoting health equity by paying for social care

Two major reports from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in 2019 and 2021 have called for clinicians, health care systems, and society to foster health equity by integrating social care into health care delivery and partnering with communities to address social determinants of health. However, good intentions by clinicians and systems are stymied by payment restrictions and the outright lack of payment for social interventions that may improve health and reduce costs.