June 21, 2022
Health Leaders
By John Commins
Stakeholders want to increase access and support efforts to address social determinants of health.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The push is part of a new initiative by ACAP and its 74 member nonprofit plans across the nation that provides a framework for stakeholders and policymakers to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes.
ACAP wants federal policymakers to fund more benefits that address SDOH, including food, transportation, and housing programs, and to promote healthcare access by establishing continuous eligibility for people covered by Medicaid and CHIP and extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months.
ACAP is also pushing a learning collaborative to help Safety Net Health Plans advance equity across their members. The two-year program partners with the Center for Health Care Strategies to address health disparities and help nonprofit health plans develop and vet health equity strategic plans.
The Association for Community Affiliated Plans is calling on the federal government to strengthen support for efforts to address social determinants of health for the nation’s poor and underserved.
The push is part of a new initiative by ACAP and its 74 member nonprofit plans across the nation that provides a framework for stakeholders and policymakers to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes.
Pathway to Improve Health Equity uses a three-pronged approach to increase equity among plan beneficiaries, who have low incomes, are disproportionately from communities of color, and may live with disabilities.
ACAP CEO Margaret A. Murray says the initiative will rely on robust data collection to support improvement on equity measures, pursuing public policies that improve equity, and listening and learning from the experiences of other plans.
“Increasing health equity requires a shared commitment from policymakers and health plans,” Murray says in a media release.
“With an intentional focus on measuring and reporting data, and more support for policies that improve health care coverage, Safety Net Health Plans will continue to lead the way in meaningful, innovative progress on health equity,” she says. “Policymakers can support these important efforts by backing policies that allow plans to address social determinants of health as an essential element of healthcare.”
ACAP wants federal policymakers to fund more benefits that address SDOH, including food, transportation, and housing programs, and to promote healthcare access by establishing continuous eligibility for people covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program and extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months.
ACAP is also pushing a learning collaborative to help Safety Net Health Plans advance equity across their members. The two-year program partners with the Center for Health Care Strategies to address health disparities and help nonprofit health plans develop and vet health equity strategic plans.
“There are no silver bullets to solve the widespread, systemic disparities that plague America’s health care system, but there are concrete actions that can move the needle,” says Christopher D. Palmieri, president and CEO of Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Care Alliance and chair of ACAP’s board of directors. “Health equity can progress from an aspiration to a reality, but it requires policymakers to work with health plans and others in new and deliberate ways. The Pathway fuels that process.”
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