Implementing Medicaid Payment Models For Health-Related Social Services: Early Lessons

States increasingly recognize that improving health outcomes is as much about addressing the social determinants of poor health as it is about providing high-quality medical care, particularly for vulnerable populations, but federal and state regulations limit the ability of Medicaid to pay for supportive social services. Four states (Oregon, New York, Vermont, and Utah) have developed strategies to pay for certain social services within their Medicaid programs. This project will examine the development and implementation of these strategies through targeted interviews with Medicaid representatives, managed care organizations, and the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. The resulting policy brief and national webinar will inform policymakers how other states understand how these states are covering certain social services under Medicaid and provide practice guidance for incorporating social services into a Medicaid payment and benefit structure. This grant will build on previous work and represents the next logical step in this series, moving from the conceptual to the practical.