Title: Developing National Social Care Standards
Source: Health Affairs
Authors: Laura M. Gottlieb, Sarah C. DeSilvey, Caroline Fichtenberg, Susannah Bernheim, and Alon Peltz
Social care is transitioning from an innovation to a norm in the health care sector as state and federal governments, employers, and standards-setting organizations establish quality regulations. In this article, the authors identified and compared five of the emerging national social care accountability initiatives: NCQA (HEDIS), CMS IQR, CMS MIPS, CMS (Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans’ Health Risk Assessments), and the Joint Commission (Standard LD.04.03.08). While these are meant to improve the service delivery of clinical providers and health plans, there is a lack of consistency and comprehensive measures. Specifically, the new social risk domains, social risk screening instruments, priority populations, follow-up tools, measurement types, and reporting tools can yield differing outcomes in social risk assessment. The authors urge for new policies to create a “national learning laboratory” where new initiatives provide greater evidence before such social care becomes a norm. Greater research by national standard-setting organizations on patient and clinical staff experiences with social care has the ability to create harmonious, effective, and cost-effective programs.
