Diabetes disproportionately affects Medicaid patients compared to the general public, with Medicaid beneficiaries having higher rates of poor diabetes management, worse glycemic outcomes and more barriers to receiving care, according to the Center for Health Care Strategies. Many Medicaid enrollees also have health-related social needs, which are social and economic needs like food and housing that affect individuals’ ability to remain healthy.
A series of pilot programs announced last week by the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative (MIC) aims to address these challenges. The MIC is a program of Acumen America, a nonprofit battling poverty in the U.S. through initiatives across health, work and wealth. The MIC is working to improve the health of Medicaid beneficiaries by connecting them to tech-enabled solutions.
The organization chose five pilot programs to launch: three in Kentucky, one in New York and one in Iowa. The programs are supported by $315,000 in funding from the Helmsley Charitable Trust and Acumen America funding partners. Each program addresses the health-related social needs of Medicaid beneficiaries living with a chronic condition, like diabetes.
“We wanted to identify and test out things around food insecurity, housing and transportation, and have a mix of things so that we could learn what really worked with Medicaid members and also encourage health plans to work together to implement them,” said Veenu Aulakh, executive director of the MIC, in an interview.
The pilot programs include:
Kentucky
- Passport by Molina Healthcare and FarmboxRx (funded by Helmsley Charitable Trust): This program will support 200 Passport by Molina Healthcare Medicaid members with diabetes in Louisville. Members will receive monthly deliveries of food boxes from FarmboxRx, a company that is battling food insecurity. Members will also be able to attend live education sessions at Dare to Care Foodbank Community Kitchen to understand how to “make the most of the food boxes,” according to a news release. In addition, they’ll receive childcare support from the Play Cousins Collective.
- Samaritan, Aetna Better Health and Humana Healthy Horizons (funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust): This program will help Medicaid beneficiaries in Louisville who are housing insecure. Local providers will help residents receive financial and social support to improve access to care, critical utilities and housing.
- Attane Health and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Kentucky Medicaid (funded by Acumen America partners): 100 Anthem Medicaid members with diabetes in Jefferson County will receive a food-as-medicine intervention. They’ll gain access to nutrient-dense foods, fresh produce tailored to their needs and nutrition coaching.
New York
- Staten Island PPS, Ready Computing, Samaritan and Healthfirst (funded by Acumen America partners): Underserved Healthfirst Medicaid members on Staten Island will gain access to an outreach program in which community navigators will use the Ready Computing Channels360 platform to screen, identify and refer members to community-based organizations for their social needs. A subset of unhoused members will receive financial incentives and support through the Samaritan Membership program.
Iowa
- Kaizen Health, Wellpoint, Iowa Total Care and Molina Healthcare of Iowa (funded by Helmsley Charitable Trust): Kaizen will work with all three Medicaid managed care organizations in Iowa (Wellpoint, Iowa Total Care and Molina Healthcare of Iowa) to support members in Blackhawk and Des Moines counties with insulin-requiring diabetes. Specifically, Kaizen will provide these members with non-emergency medical transportation.
The pilot programs will last for six months, although some may run up to nine months. The launch of these programs comes at a time when the needs of Medicaid members are gaining more attention, but more work needs to be done to support these needs.
“I think there’s more of a realization that there are real dollars here and real needs that haven’t been met, but we still don’t have great data about what really works with these populations,” Aulakh said. “There are a lot of unique differences from language, literacy and engagement. Health-related social needs are such a critical area as well, that’s getting a lot more attention in the world.”
However, not all digital solutions know how to work with the Medicaid population. That’s why the MIC had a request for information process when evaluating pilot programs to support. This process asked the tech-enabled solutions for videos on how their product worked and how they engage consumers. The organization also looked for companies that had experience working with Medicaid. In addition, companies were interviewed by Medicaid consumers, who asked questions like how they would cater to Spanish-speaking members or rural members.
Aulakh said she ultimately hopes to see these programs expand and move toward sustainability in the future. With each pilot, the health plans and solutions will be tracking different measures to understand if the program was successful and if they can move forward.
Photo: zimmytws, Getty Images
