The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) has launched an online center of resources related to social determinants of health.
The Center for Social Determinants of Health Innovation aims to help health plans and other stakeholders understand and better address social drivers, reducing health disparities. ACAP partnered with Spring Street Exchange, a health policy consulting firm, to put the hub together.
The consultant had initially been solicited to run a survey of ACAP plans on how they were addressing social determinants of health.
“There was a great desire to have a strong strategy, but a lot of them were not at that point yet. They needed some help,” Margaret Murray, CEO of ACAP, told Fierce Healthcare. So the organization wanted to create a centralized one-stop shop for anyone looking for support.
The online hub leans on best practices sourced from academia, policy and the experience of ACAP’s 74-member safety net health plans. It also compiles funding opportunities aimed at social driver initiatives for members.
“What we’re hoping to be is kind of the back room for them,” Murray explained. “It can be overwhelming to plans to figure out who’s out there.”
Additionally, the center is hosting voluntary learning collaboratives for member plans. Each module will be up to nine months long and will focus on a different aspect of managing social drivers, such as strategy.
Most of the center will be available to ACAP plans only, including competitive insights on how members compare to each other and those outside the organization. The organization said it will document members' progress with a benchmarking survey within the year. ACAP also hopes to publicize certain insights gained from the center, potentially in the form of research or case studies, the company told Fierce Healthcare.