Investing in social services as a core strategy for healthcare organization

Despite the widespread acknowledgement of the importance of addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) to improve outcomes and lower medical costs, observed investments tend to be modest in scale and temporary, often funded through time-limited grants or launched as pilots without a long-term strategy. This research-based guide explores the current landscape of investments targeting SDOH as well as approaches to accelerate the uptake of SDOH investments into healthcare business operations.

Developed in conjunction with The Commonwealth Fund, this paper offers practical guidance to support social services as a sustainable investment strategy for healthcare organizations as initial investments have demonstrated the potential to yield high financial returns.

The intended audience for this guidebook is all payer and provider organizations that currently bear some form of risk for managing total costs of care for a distinct (sub) population.