Hospitals and other advocates are urging the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee to move forward on a social determinants of health bill that Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern (D) introduced in July along with Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.).
The bill would make available up to $25 million to states to target high-need Medicaid patients, such as the homeless or mothers with post-partum depression. Grant money would be used to identify achievable outcomes through care coordination. The Social Determinants Accelerator Act (H.R. 4004) also calls on the U.S. Health & Human Services to convene an inter-agency technical advisory council on social determinants of health.
A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).