Social needs screening and supplemental benefits in Medicare Advantage

OBJECTIVES: Social determinants of health (SDOH) impact the health outcomes of older adults. Recognizing the importance of screening for and addressing social needs, CMS allowed Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to begin offering SDOH screening and providing social needs-oriented Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI) in 2024. In this article, we describe MA plans that screen for SDOH and provide SSBCI addressing social needs, and we explore how offerings align with communities' social needs. 

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive analysis. 

METHODS: We analyzed 2024 MA Plan Benefit Package and enrollment files and SVI data. We assessed the number of and enrollment in plans and their geographic distribution compared with SVI, a measure to quantify social needs. 

RESULTS: In the first year of implementing screening for SDOH, MA plans had low uptake (20% of plans). Of plans that screened for SDOH, approximately half offered interventions to address SDOH through SSBCI; most screened for SDOH and offered SSBCI in communities with greater social need, but many of the highest-need areas had no such plans. 

CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the opportunity to expand SDOH screening and SSBCI, particularly in areas with the highest social needs, as MA becomes the largest provider of health care for older adults.