Integrating Medical And Social Services: A Pressing Priority For Health Systems And Payers

This new post by The Commonwealth Fund in Health Affairs Grantwatch blog asks whether the United States might get a better return on its investment in the health of Americans if we integrated medical and non-medical services and shifted some of the investment from health care to social services.

Part of the discussion focuses on the impact that ACOs and other alternative payment models are having on the trend toward integration — where linking medical and non-medical services can help providers meet their bottom line. The post references two CHCS publications on state payment and financing models to support social services and another on early lessons of non-medical service integration in Medicaid ACOs.

ACO News is a feature of the Medicaid Accountable Care Organization Resource Center, an online collection of tools designed to help Medicaid agencies develop and launch accountable care organizations.