|
January 6, 2020
Dear Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member Walden, Chairman Eshoo, and Ranking Member Burgess: As you know, economic and social conditions have a powerful impact on our health and wellness. Stable housing, reliable transportation, and access to healthy foods are all factors that can make a difference in the prevention and management of many health conditions like diabetes, asthma and heart disease. As organizations committed to improving health and wellbeing by addressing individual and community social needs, we write to express our support for passage of the Social Determinants Accelerator Act (H.R. 4004). We urge the Committee to hold a hearing to discuss current challenges and opportunities in addressing social determinants of health, including H.R. 4004. The Social Determinants Accelerator Act will help states and communities devise strategies to better leverage existing programs and authorities to improve the health and wellbeing of those participating in Medicaid. The legislation will provide planning grants and targeted technical assistance to communities to develop and design innovative, evidence-based approaches to coordinate health and social services – with the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes and cost-effectiveness. The legislation also encourages improvements in cross-sector information exchange, allowing for greater coordination and accountability. In addition to local-level leadership, the federal inter-agency technical advisory council created by the Act would identify key learnings and best practices, allowing for the scaling and replication of effective approaches, and facilitate a national dialogue around barriers to success of these initiatives. Taken together, these elements will address the complexity that often stymies innovative cross-sector efforts or limits the scope and scalability of initiatives at the state and local level. We believe that the Social Determinants Accelerator Act is a critical step to overcome these challenges and move the ball forward. It will provide state, local and tribal governments with additional capacity and support to incubate innovative strategies – and the entire nation will benefit from the results of their effort. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to addressing social determinants of health to improve the well-being of our country’s most vulnerable populations and maximize coordination across important safety net programs. Sincerely, Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors Acelero Learning |