Governor Hochul Announces $500 Million for New Social Care Networks Program to Deliver Social Services and Improve Health Outcomes for Millions of Low-Income New Yorkers

 

Social Care Networks Will Help Address Health Disparities by Connecting Medicaid Members With Subsidized Nutritional Meals, Housing Supports, Transportation and Other Critical Services

Program is Part of 1115 New York Health Equity Reform Waiver Approved in January

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that nine organizations statewide will receive a total of $500 million in awards over the next three years to create a new Social Care Network (SCN) program in New York State. The program will address health disparities in low-income communities by leveraging federal funding to facilitate Medicaid members access to nutritional meals, housing supports, transportation and other social services that can have a significant impact on an individual’s health. By integrating social care and health care, this program advances a key initiative under the New York Health Equity Reform (NYHER) waiver amendment.

“The Social Care Networks will help us transform how we support communities with the greatest unmet needs,” Governor Hochul said. “Through the SCN program, we are making a direct investment in the health and wellbeing of our local communities - and New Yorkers will be connected to a more equitable and integrated social and health care system.”

New York State, as part of its Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver, is making an historic step forward to create a new model of care that will integrate health care and social care via networks with associated funding. The $500 million program is one component of a $7.5 billion three-year waiver with nearly $6 billion of federal funding. The SCNs will be core to facilitating the delivery of health-related social needs, including nutrition, housing supports, transportation, and case management for eligible Medicaid members, which are essential to addressing health disparities and improving population health.

Data shows that subsidizing health-related social needs can have significantly positive impacts on health outcomes for low-income New Yorkers.

For example, a program known as the Medicaid Redesign Team Supportive Housing Initiative is focused on providing permanent housing and tenancy support services to homeless New Yorkers with medical conditions. An analysis of the program showed that investing in housing supports led to better health outcomes such as:

• 40 percent reduction in inpatient days
• 26 percent reduction in emergency department visits
• 44 percent reduction in patients with inpatient substance use rehab admissions
• 27 percent reduction in patients with inpatient psychiatric admissions
• 15 percent reduction in overall Medicaid health expenditures
• Through strategic prioritization, the top decile of enrollees had average Medicaid savings of $45,600 per person per year

The following organizations were selected and will be covering nine regions throughout the State:

Organization	Region
Care Compass Collaborative	Southern Tier
Finger Lakes IPA Inc.	Finger Lakes
Health and Welfare Council of Long Island	Long Island
Healthy Alliance Foundation Inc.	Capital Region, Central NY, North Country
Hudson Valley Care Coalition, Inc.	Hudson Valley
Public Health Solutions	Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn
Staten Island Performing Provider System	Staten Island
Somos Healthcare Providers, Inc.	Bronx
Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative Inc.	Western NY