Measuring Social Determinants of Health: Early Efforts and Lessons from Medicaid

Information about patient-level SDOH will be collated through multiple project activities including an environmental scan of the metrics currently used by 15-20 early adopter Medicaid agencies or Medicaid health plans; and subsequent phone-based interviews with a small group of state Medicaid agencies or Medicaid health plans to find out contextual and qualitative information. Interviewees will include State Medicaid Directors and health plan medical directors. Analysis will identify key attributes of the metrics, barriers that state agencies and health plans are facing, and what issues need to be further addressed. This project will directly aid the efforts of payers, providers, and health systems researchers to collect data and to promote greater alignment across social determinants of health metrics. The work will also provide new information in the largely unexplored territory regarding effective ways to incorporate measurement around social determinants into delivery system and payment reform efforts.