Social Health
Addressing Social Drivers of Health (SDoH)
At C3, we believe in the power of holistic, community-based care. Great health is our primary purpose, and we know that members’ social circumstances stem from inequitable opportunities that disproportionately harm communities of color and under-resourced communities.
We address health-related social needs that impact the health of our members by identifying unmet social needs, connecting members to resources, and providing care coordination to support member’s physical, behavioral, and social health needs. Integrating social and clinical health is a critical component of our approach to advancing health equity.
Workforce & Capacity Building
We support our care teams by building capacity and expertise so staff can feel confident identifying members’ social risks and finding community resources.
We developed a robust training infrastructure to equip health center staff with the tools and resources to support members with food security, housing stability, utilities, transportation, and digital access needs. We utilize tools like Findhelp to search for community resources in their area.
Medicaid 1115 Waivers
The Massachusetts’ Medicaid program allowed us to invest in clinical-community partnerships and provide direct services to our members. In the 5-year demonstration pilot, we served 17,000+ Medicaid members with complex needs, connecting over 90% with much-needed nutrition and housing supports.
Read about how we leveraged this opportunity to invest $30 million in our local social service sector and co-designed interventions with those partners to improve the health of our members.
Building on Our Success
We are re-imagining primary care delivery with our social health programs – and we’re seeing results. Members who receive nutrition and housing supports were more engaged in other clinical programs, had better access to healthy food, and housing stability improved. By addressing the social needs that members face, they also have improved health outcomes and rely less on the Emergency Department for care.
We’re proud of the commitment we’ve made to improving health equity and are working to embed social health programs into every aspect of our work.
