Partnership to Align Social Care

Don't leaf us hanging! Join us for our next peer learning session, Coffee and Contracts: A Social Needs Contracting Community of Practice, on Tuesday, November 12 at Noon ET. The Partnership to Align Social Care and Camden Coalition will host a conversation focused on financial modeling and strategy from a Community Care Hub perspective. Deana (Deana), Associate Director of Community Initiatives at the Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT), and Gudrun Bossmann, Associate Director of Finance at CHRT, will discuss financial components to consider when preparing to contract with healthcare organizations and how financial models can support hubs with strategic decisions towards financial stability. Register for the upcoming event here: https://bit.ly/4cY9BzY

Spooky season is here, but revenue strategizing shouldn't be scary! Grab your PSL and join us for our next peer learning session,?Coffee and Contracts: A Social Needs Contracting Community of Practice, on?Tuesday, October 8 at Noon ET.?The Partnership to Align Social Care and Camden Coalition will host a conversation focused on?engaging and deploying diverse revenue strategies from a Community Care Hub perspective. Robbi Kay Norman, co-principal at?Uncommon Solutions, Inc.,?will moderate a discussion with?Alison Poulsen, President of?Better Health Together, and?John Kim, CEO at?HealthierHere, detailing?their experiences?striving to implement?nimble, culturally responsive,?community-driven, and diverse?revenue strategies. Participants will then break into groups for facilitated discussions to learn from?peers about their experiences with various revenue models. The Partnership will also release a new resource focused on helping CCH's evaluate revenue strategies including government and foundation grants, invoice-based contracts, and claims-based revenue through invoice-based contracts or as a billing provider. Register for the upcoming event here: https://bit.ly/4cY9BzY

Join Convergence Center for Policy Resolution for a virtual event, Health Starts Here: Strengthening the Policy Environment around Social Factors of Health, on Thursday, October 10th @ 1-2pm ET to hear more about the Convergence Collaborative on Social Factors of Health from Stuart M Butler PhD, Caryn Hederman, and other Collaborative Participants sharing the impact of their newly released Health Starts Here Blueprint for Action. The Convergence Collaborative on Social Factors of Health – a group of over 40 representative stakeholder organizations and experts from health and social policy sectors – worked to identify policy actions, primarily at the federal and state levels, to foster cross-sector partnerships aimed at improving household and community health by addressing social factors of health. The Collaborative coalesced around consensus actionable solutions in four key areas: (1) improving system integration; (2) building an SDOH workforce; (3) financing SDOH approaches; and (4) addressing data sharing, evaluation, and experimentation. These policy solutions are captured in their newly released Blueprint for Action, titled Health Starts Here. Register for event here: https://lnkd.in/gGpWtwpq Health Starts Here Blueprint for Action: https://lnkd.in/guQunJ-W?

Dozens of Organizations Sign on to Partnership Comment Letters In July 2024, CMS released its annual draft proposed updates for next year's CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which includes a?request for information (RFI) regarding barriers to implementation for services to address HRSNs.?The draft rule also includes proposed updates to Caregiver Training Services, ACO quality measures re: screening for HRSNs, and the Advanced Primary Care Model (APCM). On September 9, 2024, the Partnership to Align Social Care submitted two letters to CMS on behalf of Partnership Co-Chairs and undersigned organizations. Sixty-five organizations signed on to the?response to the request for information (RFI)?regarding current barriers to implementing services to address HRSNs (CHI/PIN). Fifty-three organizations?signed on to the letter regarding?changes needed and proposed updates for telehealth, caregiver training services, ACO quality measures, and the Advanced Primary Care Model. Agency officials will?review and document the more than 12,000 comments?submitted as they finalize the rule. Stay tuned for updates once we see the final rule published—likely in early November 2024. We will also be in touch with stakeholders regarding implementation resources that we plan to create and promote once we see the final rule. 1) Sign-on letter responding to the RFI?re: barriers to implementing services to address HRSNs - https://bit.ly/4emEy1V 2) Sign-on letter responding to changes needed and proposed updates?for telehealth, caregiver training services, ACO quality measures, and the Advanced Primary Care Model - https://bit.ly/3XlaI6P

Join us next Tuesday, September 10th @ Noon ET at our eighth Coffee & Contracts session for a can't-miss conversation about compliance and risk management! Jennifer Raymond, Chief Strategy Officer at?AgeSpan,?and?Mark Humowiecki, General Counsel & Senior Director of National Initiatives at?Camden Coalition, will share their?organizations' journeys?with compliance and discuss what their compliance committees looks like, the policies and procedures in place, and how they meet healthcare standards.?Participants will then break into groups for facilitated discussions to learn from their peers about compliance and risk management. Register for the upcoming event here: https://bit.ly/4cY9BzY

URGENT: Template Letter Resources and Sign-On Opportunity Available in Response to CY2025 PFS In July 2024, CMS released its annual draft proposed updates for next year’s rules, which includes a?request for information (RFI) regarding barriers to implementation for services to address HRSNs.?The draft rule also includes proposed updates to Caregiver Training Services, ACO quality measures re: screening for HRSNs, and the Advanced Primary Care Model (APCM). SIGN-ON REQUEST: Please consider joining the Partnership to Align Social Care and other organizational stakeholders?on TWO sign-on letters?offering comments. You?may sign on to one or both letters: 1) Sign-on letter responding to the RFI?re: barriers to implementing services to address HRSNs - https://bit.ly/3Tjy6Rb 2) Sign-on letter responding to changes needed and proposed updates?for telehealth, caregiver training services, ACO quality measures, and the Advanced Primary Care Model - https://bit.ly/3XeNGyv We also encourage you?to?download?template language (linked below) covering all of these issues?and incorporate as applicable into your organization's response?.?As a reminder,?comments are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on September 9, 2024, and can be submitted?online.? Partnership Sign-On Form - https://bit.ly/3TgLKnY Partnership-prepared template language - https://bit.ly/4gboly9 CMS Response Portal - https://lnkd.in/g3FhJCRH

Be sure to check out the latest CBO–Health Care Contracting data! USAging’s Aging and Disability Business Institute has released valuable resources from the 2023 CBO-Health Care Contracting Survey. Explore the data brief from their research partner Scripps Gerontology Center and the infographic and toolkit slides to gain essential insights for your organization on health care contracting. https://bit.ly/4dF0LYr

Inadequate collaboration and obstacles to collaboration are major impediments to addressing health-related social needs (HRSNs) and aligning health and social care ecosystems. Members of the Convergence Collaborative on Social Factors of Health agreed that improving collaboration across social and health sectors—and between private and public organizations—is essential for effective SDOH strategies. Read the Collaborative’s latest Blueprint for Action consensus solutions to learn why achieving the necessary level of collaboration requires improving system integration: https://lnkd.in/eWWTzMAh Convergence Center for Policy Resolution Stuart M Butler PhD Caryn Hederman

We may have taken July off, but we're back this month on Tuesday, August 13 @ Noon ET with our monthly peer-learning opportunity, Coffee and Contracts: A Social Needs Contracting Community of Practice. Join the Partnership to Align Social Care and Camden Coalition for our seventh Coffee and Contracts session that will focus on the process of vetting social care contracts from a CCH perspective. Ester Sefilyan, VP Network Services, and Anne Ly, MPH, Senior Director of Network Contracts & Systems Management, at Partners in Care Foundation will discuss how their organization uses contract templates, the relationship between the CCH operations staff and the contracting officer, and how their team works with outside legal counsel. Participants will then break into groups for facilitated discussions to learn from their peers about vetting social care contracts. Register for the upcoming event here: https://bit.ly/4aFv1kG

Curious about how the proposed coding and payment changes in the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule could impact efforts to align health and social care? There is still time register for an upcoming Partnership to Align Social Care webinar, What Does the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Mean for Addressing HRSNs?, TOMORROW, July 30 from 2:00pm ET to 3:30pm ET. Attendees will hear an overview and discussion of these updates, and learn about relevant CMS requests for information, and additional opportunities to inform the public comment process. CBOs and community care hubs, health plans, health systems, Federally Qualified and Rural Health Centers (FQHCs and RHCs), other healthcare providers, and caregiver advocates who want to learn more about how the proposed coding and payment changes could impact efforts to align health and social care ecosystems are encouraged to join. Register for the July 30th event here: https://bit.ly/3W9awa8