Social Determinants of Health

The difference of overall health is striking when you compare people and communities more significantly affected by the social determinants of health. People and communities with inconsistent housing, unsafe neighborhoods and sub-par education live with social, economic and environmental factors that lead to health inequities. The current health pandemic and social crisis have highlighted the longstanding and systemic racial and income inequities in our country that impact health. The future of health depends on how leaders navigate through this tumultuous time, when it is important to be responsive and resilient.

In the wake of the pandemic, these factors have only worsened as social isolation, limited access to healthcare and virtual platforms, and economic distress threaten communities. Now more than ever, healthcare leaders are eager to understand how they can improve outcomes, enable healthy behaviors and eliminate racial inequalities. Leaders are increasingly using innovative technology to reach underserved populations and tapping into data to ensure they are providing equal access to care for all.

In a discussion with Modern Healthcare Custom Media on this critical topic, Centene’s industry expert offered insight into how their organization is finding innovative ways to address social determinants of health and discussed how they are responding to heightened need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Panelist: 

Michael Monson is the senior VP of Medicaid and Complex Care at Centene. He is also responsible for Centene’s overall strategy regarding SDOH, Social Health Bridge Trust^™ and the Centene Center for Health Transformation™.

MM: Centene’s history is rooted in addressing the underlying social factors that drive health outcomes – from improving provider accessibility and providing transportation to tackling pre-diabetes and addressing the health risks of homelessness. SDOH is embedded in our DNA. Our vision is to augment and scale local programs as the partner of choice for community organizations – producing evidence-based practices, testing new models and creating measurable impact.

MM: Truly transformative healthcare requires a holistic view – medical, economic, social, cultural and environmental – of an individual and the community in which they live, work and play. We have always known this, but recent tragic events underscore the continued need to identify and pursue solutions to health disparities. For example, most recently, we convened a national health disparity taskforce and launched COVID-19 testing and research in disproportionately impacted communities.

MM: We work with providers on health equity initiatives – for example, incorporating cultural practices into postpartum care to improve maternal health outcomes or removing barriers to care for those living with a disability. In this crisis, we acted quickly to support providers working with vulnerable populations. We built telehealth capacity for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and donated PPE to FQHCs, Long-Term Services and Supports providers, and child welfare workers and frontline providers who were forgotten in the early days of the pandemic.

MM: Healthcare alone cannot solve these challenges, but we play a critical role. First, we can identify members’ needs and connect them to services; we developed an SDOH risk model to support this. Second, we can eliminate barriers to care, like enabling telehealth for those with transportation challenges. Third, we can act as conveners in our communities to collectively address these challenges using models like Wellness Trusts and our own Social Health Bridge, a utility to help sustainably fund SDOH.

MM: Centene’s Social Threads^™ program trains staff to identify loneliness and social isolation in health assessments. Interventions are tailored to individuals and include connecting members to mental wellness tools, technology to enable virtual communities, and extra phone minutes to maintain social connections. We also offer mental health resources to providers to better support communities experiencing elevated stress due to grief, economic pressure and social isolation.

MM: The pandemic shows that telehealth can improve access to quality care for vulnerable populations. However, internet access is an increasingly critical barrier to health, education and social connectivity. Centene is working to build awareness of free or low-cost internet services and to increase access through local partnerships such as our program to provide tablets and free internet to 8,000 plus children facing housing instability in New Mexico.