March 21, 2026 • 20 mins
Often, when you go to the doctor or psychiatrist and tell them you're in a funk, or not feeling like yourself, they'll prescribe you a pill or some other type of medicine. However, in some cases, instead of being handed a prescription for an anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medicine, patients are being prescribed visits to local art and culture institutions, like museums, community centers, and the theater. Nichole talks with Erik Holmgren, Manager of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships at the Mass Cultural Council, and Chris Appleton, Founder and CEO of SocialRx, about their efforts to connect more Bay State residents to these life-changing programs.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
So maybe you find yourself down in the dumps and
you go to the doctor and you tell them I'm
kind of lonely or I'm super stressed out and I'm
not really sure how to get out of this. Instead
(00:28):
of being handed a prescription for a stimulant or an antidepressant,
your doctor instead writes you a prescription for culture. That
could mean visits to a museum, a chance to do
stand up, maybe a nature walk, a dance class, volunteering time.
All of these are examples of what are called social prescriptions,
where medical professionals team up with local arts and culture
institutions and connect people to options that can provide the
(00:50):
boosts they need and what can be at times a
very overwhelming and stressful life. Joining us now to talk
about how all this is playing out in Massachusetts is
Eric Holmgren. He is the manager of Advancement and Strategic
Partnerships at the mass Cultural Council, and Chris Appleton is
here as well. He's the founder and CEO of Social RX.
They are working directly with the Council to make this
(01:11):
happen here in the Bay State. Gentlemen, thank you so
much for the time. And Eric, let's first hear a
bit about the work that you're doing at the Council
and how all this came together in the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure, So, the mass Cultural Council is a state arts
agency in Massachusetts. So we are an independent state agency
there receives an allocation of funding from the legislature each
budget year, and we use that money for primarily for grants,
but also to advance the cultural sector through partnerships and
(01:41):
cross sector work, trying to be a part of the
solution of large scale problems like healthcare and other issues
like workforce development and innovation economy and things like that.
So we're a staff of over thirty and have grown
steadily over the last several years. So you know, we're
looking forward to doing some great work you're in the future.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I love that. And one of your programs that has
really stuck out to me is the concept of this
art pharmacy or social prescribing, so to speak. And I
was doing some research and found that this is actually
something that's pretty well known globally, not so much here
in the United States. Chris, this is kind of your
forte as well. Tell us a little bit about what
social prescribing is all about.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Social prescribing is a pretty common sense practice through which
healthcare providers prescribe participation in community activities like going to
a dance class or a community gardening workshop to support
a whole person health, whether that's an individual's physical health,
their mental health, or their social health.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Okay, so here in Massachusetts, you know where the first
state really to have embraced this idea to focus on
these other angles of the health journey, not just you know,
throwing a pill at something like, let's actually get out
in the community. And what I love, Eric, is that
we have so many different options for people in Massachusetts
in our museums, in our in our theaters. Tell us
(03:02):
a little bit about how this idea to bring this
to Massachusetts came together through the council.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Sure, so we have to go back all the way
to twenty nineteen when we were looking at a couple
of pieces of information. The first was that Massachusetts has
a celebrated healthcare system. It's known around the country was
kind of the blueprint for Obamacare in a lot of ways,
but it's more than forty percent of the state budget.
At the same time, there's been a mental health and
(03:29):
behavioral health crisis for a long time in this country.
We just started talking about it more publicly, I think
during the pandemic. And so we were looking at the
work that we were doing and some of the data
that we were seeing from the United Kingdom and Canada
and thinking about what our role could be. And so,
as you said, based on recent information that we gathered
(03:51):
last year or two years ago through the Cultural Asset Inventory,
there's more than fifteen thousand cultural entities in Massachusetts and
more than one hundred and twelve thousand artists. So we
felt like we could be part of a solution to
this problem. So in twenty twenty, we launched a pilot
with two health centers, one in the Berkshire's Macaanie Pediatrics
(04:12):
and another in Springfield Caring Health Center, and twelve cultural organizations,
and we acted kind of as the insurance company, so
we worked with those organizations to utilize arts organizations as
part of patient care. The program grew it was tremendously successful.
We use an external evaluator. We grew over the course
(04:34):
of three years, and then we got to a point
where we recognized we're a state arts agency. As I
said at the top of this, we typically fund programs,
we don't operate them. So we paused and we took
a year and we looked for a partner who could
scale this program statewide. We believe that the arts sector
(05:00):
is one of the largest non clinical behavioral health workforces
in Massachusetts. At a time when we're facing severe shortages,
we leave a seat in every theater in Massachusetts can
be a part of a patient treatment plan. Every dance
class can be a part of a patient treatment plan.
But we haven't broadened ourselves to look at it. The
Canadians have done this and have some great data on it.
(05:22):
The UK has collected some phenomenal data. So after a
year long search, in twenty twenty three, we landed on
Art Pharmacy as our partner, and since that time the
program has scaled tremendously to the point where we have
first in the country, external payers paying for arts prescriptions
(05:43):
as part of patient care plans through a number of
different sources that I will let Chris talk about but
the partnership is the first of it's kind in the
country where the only state that has a statewide program,
and I'm very pleased to say that a number of
other states have now signed up on and this practice
is really gaining steam across the country. So it's an
exciting moment at a time where we need to reduce
(06:07):
healthcare costs, we need to find innovative solutions and our pharmacy,
and now social rx has done that beyond our expectations.
So I'll turn the rest of the story over to Chris.
Starting in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, I was going to say, Chris, you've been around
since about twenty twenty two. I think I did my Researchencaw.
It was twenty twenty two when social rx became a thing.
So before we get into where we're at now, let's
kind of learn about your side of the story and
see what happened in your journey to start up what
is now social rx.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You know, we that's right, we started in twenty twenty two,
coming out of the early parts of the pandemic. We
were reading the headlines like all of us, like everybody
about the growing mental health crisis in the United States,
the growing loneliness epidemic not just here, but not just
in the US, but globally that the former Surgeon General,
(07:00):
the Vacmrthy, doctor the vac Mrthy, called attention to and
there was a particular challenge that seemed pretty solvable. And
that challenge was that as stigma improved for help seeking
around mental health supports, which is wonderful, right, that improved
stigma and needs increased as a result of the pandemic
(07:23):
and social media. You see just huge crush of demand
for mental health services and not enough providers. Right. You
know that the need for more providers could not only
be addressed by training and hiring more providers. You just
can't do it fast enough. So communities needed more supply
(07:47):
in the care continuum. And you know, you got every
sort of health system and health plan out there saying, hey,
there's not enough supply. But we knew that there was
available supply in every community. In fact, there's excess supply
in every community. We just don't call it psychotherapy. We
call it dance class or museum visit or creative writing workshop.
(08:11):
And just as Eric was saying that, you know, every
seat every painting work class. You know, this is and
should be a part of the mental health care continuum
and the you know sort of challenges, how do you
(08:34):
connect healthcare and the individuals that are helped seeking through
healthcare for mental health supports to this community asset and
resource which Massachusetts has in abundance. I think that we
have in our network now in Massachusetts more than five
(08:56):
hundred arts and culture partners, a small ford of you know,
the thousands that Eric just reference that exist, and there
needed to be a solution that was kind of the
infrastructure or plumbing to connect these to otherwise disparate fields
(09:18):
that actually very much have a similar mission in mind,
which is to support individual and community health.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
But then if somebody wants to get a prescription, so
to speak, they're hearing this and I think this is
a really smart idea. How does this all work?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
It certainly depends on, you know, sort of who that
patient is and sure where they live, and who their
insurance is. You know, a whole bunch of caveats, of course,
but you know the best answer is to go see
a primary care provider at your local health system, and
that primary care provider writes a prescription for twelve doses
(09:54):
of arts and culture and calls that prescription into Social
RX and the individual participants connects with a care navigator
at Social RX, and that care navigator really listens to
the story of the of the participant. What are their
health goals, what are their access barriers. One of the
(10:19):
things that I really love about social prescribing is that
it asks this question, not what's wrong with you? But
what matters to you? Right our our we all need
agency and our health journey. And by by understanding what
matters to you, then we can be more effective in
(10:41):
connecting you to the arts and culture experiences that are
most beneficial to you, right that you're going to be
most likely to participate in that are going to have
the most benefit on your mental health and well being.
And so after we after the care navigator talks to
you and hears you out and we do that sort
of intake, we connect you to the highest efficacy activities
(11:04):
for you and your community. And that might be Holio
of Arts, it may be the Dance Complex or Springfield
Museums or the new Bedford Art Museum, and those you
go and participate and get that dose of arts and
culture and you get to bring a friend. You know,
(11:24):
if we're trying to do things like boost connection and belonging,
we should enable people to do things with loved ones. Sure,
and then afterwards you come back and you're ready for
your second dose of arts and culture and you know,
and then the process repeats itself.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
We've got so many of these different museums and dance
classes and this, and that tell me about what we've
seen here with this prescription model, how it's impacting all
the groups you're working with.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean, so the cultural sector is always looking
for new audiences. That's always a challenge, and it's hard
to know who you don't know. And so when you
receive a prescription, you're receiving an invitation to an arts
and culture organization that you may not receive otherwise. So
we're seeing a lot of first time visitors. Frankly, we're
(12:15):
seeing a new revenue stream for the arts and culture
for the first time. And I don't know how long.
New revenue streams don't just appear right, especially earned revenue
streams for organizations that are philanthropically supported. And so I
think your idea of a win win is accurate in
that cultural organizations are seeing new visitors, they're seeing growth
(12:39):
in their bottom lines, and patients are seeing traumatic improvements.
Some of the statistics and the data behind it, it
sounds like a great idea, right. I mean, we talk
about this and it's sort of an of course idea.
It's remarkably complex to do because you're teaching two systems,
(13:00):
the arts ecosystem and healthcare to do something new together.
That is not easy. And part of the reason that
we part of a social r ACTS is that their
patient journey they just describe is that bridge, right, and
the adherence rates show it. So at twenty twenty five,
study showed that the adherence rate to SSRI medication, so
(13:23):
frontline medications, pills for depression or anxiety, those numbers are
down to around thirty three percent. Wow, So if you're
prescribed to this pill, patients are only adhering to that
medication thirty three percent of the time. Chris, your adherence
rates are at nearly eighty percent.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
That's incredible taking.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The medicine right, You're being prescribed as a culture and
people are taking the medicine.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That's step one.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
No matter how good a program is. It's the same
thing with school no matter how good an education program is,
it doesn't matter if a kid doesn't go to school.
The same thing is true with your health. It doesn't
matter if you don't take your medicine. And so the
adherence rates are off the charts, more than double what
a traditional pharmacological solution are. The only side effects from
an arts and culture experience that I've heard anecdotally are
(14:09):
that people are out of their homes, They're visiting cultural organizations,
and they're being exposed to other kinds of businesses and
experiences that are in those areas. So they're going out
to dinner, they're going to visit other stores that are
in those areas. Some people are finally coming out of
their homes for the first time in months, and so
the side effects sort of begin this snowball effective healing,
(14:32):
especially around social isolation and older adults for young people,
and the funding streams that have materialized because of this
have also gone beyond what we expected, you know, Chris
reference health insurance providers. Certainly, Massachusetts is also the only
state that we're aware of that is utilizing the Opioid
Relief Fund, which is a significant set of dollars that
(14:56):
every state in the Commonwealth gets to mitigate the impacts
of the opioid epidemic. And so that's been approved in
Massachusetts for use for arts prescriptions when Franklin, Massachusetts, that's
the first place in the United States that utilize those funds,
and we're seeing it in other places. We've had conversations
with the Department of Public Health that is funding a
(15:17):
program for seniors at risk and life transitions, And at
one point we were talking with the Department of Homeland
Security about arts prescriptions as a domestic terrorism mitigation strategy
because radicalization tends to happen in isolation. So that program
no longer exists. But I mean you see the potential, yeah,
(15:39):
and the way that mental health and social isolation pervades
so many aspects of life. As Chris said, like, I
think what Social ARTCS has done is found a new
balance of being able to meet the demand and really
scale at a rapid pace. There's nothing stopping that scaling
(15:59):
right now other than new payers.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And let's talk about how healthcare providers can do that
with you, Chris, because if again a provider is listening,
they are not involved in this right now, how are
you connecting with these healthcare facilities.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, we we are very interested in, you know, more
partnerships and and really across the entire Commonwealth from from
about the Berkshire's all the way to all the way
to the Cape and and you know have have networks
of arts and culture partners throughout throughout the Commonwealth. Folks
(16:35):
can go to social r x dot com and fill
out the partner information form on our website and that's
a great initial way to get in touch with us,
and somebody on our team will be in touch, in
touch shortly, you know, I want to share just a
brief story maybe before before we wrap up, which is
(16:58):
and and and both Eric and Unicole kind of spoke
to a version of this of you know, a member
is socially isolated. I think this individual had not left
their home for several months, really a lot of fear
(17:18):
about what maybe you know, it means for them to
be out in the community. And through working with their
care navigator, they were referred to us by their health
plan and working with their care navigator, the member ended
up going to a community center and met some people
who said, hey, you don't have to wait for next
(17:41):
month's prescription to come back. Why don't you come back
next weekend? And so this individual shared this just great
sort of testimonial that they had come to realize after
a couple of months of participating, come to realize what
(18:03):
an amazing community they live in, that they love the
town that they live in. And this is somebody again
who had not left their home for months, and that
is good for that individual. It is good for that
local community, It is good for the health system. Right.
It's a win when win all the way around. And
(18:25):
and so, uh, you know, the big dream here is
not only does does this you know, get get do
we match up this healthcare and arts and culture you
know ecosystem, but that we create some some behavior change
and real uh sort of longitudinal life impact for for
(18:48):
individuals to learn how to better access and participate in
the existing resources that are already available to them in
their community.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, because a lot of us we're leaning on this
right now. You can't see this as radio, but I'm
shaking my phone. A lot of us are stuck on
the screens. But there is so much of a world
out there that so many of us don't get to
enjoy because we're stuck inside. We're stuck on our screens.
We're too much in the virtual world. This just seems
like a perfect way for us to get outside and
(19:17):
enjoy everything that Massachusetts has to offer. Social rx dot com.
And if a patient, maybe somebody's listening, thinking I could
really use this, they should tell their provider to do
what tell.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Their healthcare providers to contact social arx dot com. Exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
All right, beautiful and Eric, how can people connect with
you over at the council?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
We're at mass Culturalcuncil dot org. We are doing a
number of remarkable things in addition to what you're hearing here.
Programs like Card to Culture, where anyone on a who
has a snap card or an EBT card or a
wickcard has access to more than four hundred cultural organizations
at free or reduced costs. More than a million people
have taken advantage of that. And we also offer grants
(19:58):
to our cultural set through a number of different programs.
So you can reach us in mass Culturrecoonncol dot org
and find the people to connect with or get in
touch with me, and we'll make sure that we support
you the best we can.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Phenomenal, Eric and Chris, great work you're doing. Keep it up.
I love this. Thank you for helping the people of
Massachusetts really embrace culture again.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
And Nicole, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Thank you to Coole.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Happy Spring, by the way.
Join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks again for tuning in this week. I'm Nicole Davis.
So maybe you find yourself down in the dumps and
you go to the doctor and you tell them I'm
kind of lonely or I'm super stressed out and I'm
not really sure how to get out of this. Instead
(00:28):
of being handed a prescription for a stimulant or an antidepressant,
your doctor instead writes you a prescription for culture. That
could mean visits to a museum, a chance to do
stand up, maybe a nature walk, a dance class, volunteering time.
All of these are examples of what are called social prescriptions,
where medical professionals team up with local arts and culture
institutions and connect people to options that can provide the
(00:50):
boosts they need and what can be at times a
very overwhelming and stressful life. Joining us now to talk
about how all this is playing out in Massachusetts is
Eric Holmgren. He is the manager of Advancement and Strategic
Partnerships at the mass Cultural Council, and Chris Appleton is
here as well. He's the founder and CEO of Social RX.
They are working directly with the Council to make this
(01:11):
happen here in the Bay State. Gentlemen, thank you so
much for the time. And Eric, let's first hear a
bit about the work that you're doing at the Council
and how all this came together in the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure, So, the mass Cultural Council is a state arts
agency in Massachusetts. So we are an independent state agency
there receives an allocation of funding from the legislature each
budget year, and we use that money for primarily for grants,
but also to advance the cultural sector through partnerships and
(01:41):
cross sector work, trying to be a part of the
solution of large scale problems like healthcare and other issues
like workforce development and innovation economy and things like that.
So we're a staff of over thirty and have grown
steadily over the last several years. So you know, we're
looking forward to doing some great work you're in the future.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I love that. And one of your programs that has
really stuck out to me is the concept of this
art pharmacy or social prescribing, so to speak. And I
was doing some research and found that this is actually
something that's pretty well known globally, not so much here
in the United States. Chris, this is kind of your
forte as well. Tell us a little bit about what
social prescribing is all about.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Social prescribing is a pretty common sense practice through which
healthcare providers prescribe participation in community activities like going to
a dance class or a community gardening workshop to support
a whole person health, whether that's an individual's physical health,
their mental health, or their social health.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Okay, so here in Massachusetts, you know where the first
state really to have embraced this idea to focus on
these other angles of the health journey, not just you know,
throwing a pill at something like, let's actually get out
in the community. And what I love, Eric, is that
we have so many different options for people in Massachusetts
in our museums, in our in our theaters. Tell us
(03:02):
a little bit about how this idea to bring this
to Massachusetts came together through the council.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Sure, so we have to go back all the way
to twenty nineteen when we were looking at a couple
of pieces of information. The first was that Massachusetts has
a celebrated healthcare system. It's known around the country was
kind of the blueprint for Obamacare in a lot of ways,
but it's more than forty percent of the state budget.
At the same time, there's been a mental health and
(03:29):
behavioral health crisis for a long time in this country.
We just started talking about it more publicly, I think
during the pandemic. And so we were looking at the
work that we were doing and some of the data
that we were seeing from the United Kingdom and Canada
and thinking about what our role could be. And so,
as you said, based on recent information that we gathered
(03:51):
last year or two years ago through the Cultural Asset Inventory,
there's more than fifteen thousand cultural entities in Massachusetts and
more than one hundred and twelve thousand artists. So we
felt like we could be part of a solution to
this problem. So in twenty twenty, we launched a pilot
with two health centers, one in the Berkshire's Macaanie Pediatrics
(04:12):
and another in Springfield Caring Health Center, and twelve cultural organizations,
and we acted kind of as the insurance company, so
we worked with those organizations to utilize arts organizations as
part of patient care. The program grew it was tremendously successful.
We use an external evaluator. We grew over the course
(04:34):
of three years, and then we got to a point
where we recognized we're a state arts agency. As I
said at the top of this, we typically fund programs,
we don't operate them. So we paused and we took
a year and we looked for a partner who could
scale this program statewide. We believe that the arts sector
(05:00):
is one of the largest non clinical behavioral health workforces
in Massachusetts. At a time when we're facing severe shortages,
we leave a seat in every theater in Massachusetts can
be a part of a patient treatment plan. Every dance
class can be a part of a patient treatment plan.
But we haven't broadened ourselves to look at it. The
Canadians have done this and have some great data on it.
(05:22):
The UK has collected some phenomenal data. So after a
year long search, in twenty twenty three, we landed on
Art Pharmacy as our partner, and since that time the
program has scaled tremendously to the point where we have
first in the country, external payers paying for arts prescriptions
(05:43):
as part of patient care plans through a number of
different sources that I will let Chris talk about but
the partnership is the first of it's kind in the
country where the only state that has a statewide program,
and I'm very pleased to say that a number of
other states have now signed up on and this practice
is really gaining steam across the country. So it's an
exciting moment at a time where we need to reduce
(06:07):
healthcare costs, we need to find innovative solutions and our pharmacy,
and now social rx has done that beyond our expectations.
So I'll turn the rest of the story over to Chris.
Starting in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, I was going to say, Chris, you've been around
since about twenty twenty two. I think I did my Researchencaw.
It was twenty twenty two when social rx became a thing.
So before we get into where we're at now, let's
kind of learn about your side of the story and
see what happened in your journey to start up what
is now social rx.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You know, we that's right, we started in twenty twenty two,
coming out of the early parts of the pandemic. We
were reading the headlines like all of us, like everybody
about the growing mental health crisis in the United States,
the growing loneliness epidemic not just here, but not just
in the US, but globally that the former Surgeon General,
(07:00):
the Vacmrthy, doctor the vac Mrthy, called attention to and
there was a particular challenge that seemed pretty solvable. And
that challenge was that as stigma improved for help seeking
around mental health supports, which is wonderful, right, that improved
stigma and needs increased as a result of the pandemic
(07:23):
and social media. You see just huge crush of demand
for mental health services and not enough providers. Right. You
know that the need for more providers could not only
be addressed by training and hiring more providers. You just
can't do it fast enough. So communities needed more supply
(07:47):
in the care continuum. And you know, you got every
sort of health system and health plan out there saying, hey,
there's not enough supply. But we knew that there was
available supply in every community. In fact, there's excess supply
in every community. We just don't call it psychotherapy. We
call it dance class or museum visit or creative writing workshop.
(08:11):
And just as Eric was saying that, you know, every
seat every painting work class. You know, this is and
should be a part of the mental health care continuum
and the you know sort of challenges, how do you
(08:34):
connect healthcare and the individuals that are helped seeking through
healthcare for mental health supports to this community asset and
resource which Massachusetts has in abundance. I think that we
have in our network now in Massachusetts more than five
(08:56):
hundred arts and culture partners, a small ford of you know,
the thousands that Eric just reference that exist, and there
needed to be a solution that was kind of the
infrastructure or plumbing to connect these to otherwise disparate fields
(09:18):
that actually very much have a similar mission in mind,
which is to support individual and community health.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
But then if somebody wants to get a prescription, so
to speak, they're hearing this and I think this is
a really smart idea. How does this all work?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
It certainly depends on, you know, sort of who that
patient is and sure where they live, and who their
insurance is. You know, a whole bunch of caveats, of course,
but you know the best answer is to go see
a primary care provider at your local health system, and
that primary care provider writes a prescription for twelve doses
(09:54):
of arts and culture and calls that prescription into Social
RX and the individual participants connects with a care navigator
at Social RX, and that care navigator really listens to
the story of the of the participant. What are their
health goals, what are their access barriers. One of the
(10:19):
things that I really love about social prescribing is that
it asks this question, not what's wrong with you? But
what matters to you? Right our our we all need
agency and our health journey. And by by understanding what
matters to you, then we can be more effective in
(10:41):
connecting you to the arts and culture experiences that are
most beneficial to you, right that you're going to be
most likely to participate in that are going to have
the most benefit on your mental health and well being.
And so after we after the care navigator talks to
you and hears you out and we do that sort
of intake, we connect you to the highest efficacy activities
(11:04):
for you and your community. And that might be Holio
of Arts, it may be the Dance Complex or Springfield
Museums or the new Bedford Art Museum, and those you
go and participate and get that dose of arts and
culture and you get to bring a friend. You know,
(11:24):
if we're trying to do things like boost connection and belonging,
we should enable people to do things with loved ones. Sure,
and then afterwards you come back and you're ready for
your second dose of arts and culture and you know,
and then the process repeats itself.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
We've got so many of these different museums and dance
classes and this, and that tell me about what we've
seen here with this prescription model, how it's impacting all
the groups you're working with.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, I mean, so the cultural sector is always looking
for new audiences. That's always a challenge, and it's hard
to know who you don't know. And so when you
receive a prescription, you're receiving an invitation to an arts
and culture organization that you may not receive otherwise. So
we're seeing a lot of first time visitors. Frankly, we're
(12:15):
seeing a new revenue stream for the arts and culture
for the first time. And I don't know how long.
New revenue streams don't just appear right, especially earned revenue
streams for organizations that are philanthropically supported. And so I
think your idea of a win win is accurate in
that cultural organizations are seeing new visitors, they're seeing growth
(12:39):
in their bottom lines, and patients are seeing traumatic improvements.
Some of the statistics and the data behind it, it
sounds like a great idea, right. I mean, we talk
about this and it's sort of an of course idea.
It's remarkably complex to do because you're teaching two systems,
(13:00):
the arts ecosystem and healthcare to do something new together.
That is not easy. And part of the reason that
we part of a social r ACTS is that their
patient journey they just describe is that bridge, right, and
the adherence rates show it. So at twenty twenty five,
study showed that the adherence rate to SSRI medication, so
(13:23):
frontline medications, pills for depression or anxiety, those numbers are
down to around thirty three percent. Wow, So if you're
prescribed to this pill, patients are only adhering to that
medication thirty three percent of the time. Chris, your adherence
rates are at nearly eighty percent.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
That's incredible taking.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
The medicine right, You're being prescribed as a culture and
people are taking the medicine.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That's step one.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
No matter how good a program is. It's the same
thing with school no matter how good an education program is,
it doesn't matter if a kid doesn't go to school.
The same thing is true with your health. It doesn't
matter if you don't take your medicine. And so the
adherence rates are off the charts, more than double what
a traditional pharmacological solution are. The only side effects from
an arts and culture experience that I've heard anecdotally are
(14:09):
that people are out of their homes, They're visiting cultural organizations,
and they're being exposed to other kinds of businesses and
experiences that are in those areas. So they're going out
to dinner, they're going to visit other stores that are
in those areas. Some people are finally coming out of
their homes for the first time in months, and so
the side effects sort of begin this snowball effective healing,
(14:32):
especially around social isolation and older adults for young people,
and the funding streams that have materialized because of this
have also gone beyond what we expected, you know, Chris
reference health insurance providers. Certainly, Massachusetts is also the only
state that we're aware of that is utilizing the Opioid
Relief Fund, which is a significant set of dollars that
(14:56):
every state in the Commonwealth gets to mitigate the impacts
of the opioid epidemic. And so that's been approved in
Massachusetts for use for arts prescriptions when Franklin, Massachusetts, that's
the first place in the United States that utilize those funds,
and we're seeing it in other places. We've had conversations
with the Department of Public Health that is funding a
(15:17):
program for seniors at risk and life transitions, And at
one point we were talking with the Department of Homeland
Security about arts prescriptions as a domestic terrorism mitigation strategy
because radicalization tends to happen in isolation. So that program
no longer exists. But I mean you see the potential, yeah,
(15:39):
and the way that mental health and social isolation pervades
so many aspects of life. As Chris said, like, I
think what Social ARTCS has done is found a new
balance of being able to meet the demand and really
scale at a rapid pace. There's nothing stopping that scaling
(15:59):
right now other than new payers.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And let's talk about how healthcare providers can do that
with you, Chris, because if again a provider is listening,
they are not involved in this right now, how are
you connecting with these healthcare facilities.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Yeah, we we are very interested in, you know, more
partnerships and and really across the entire Commonwealth from from
about the Berkshire's all the way to all the way
to the Cape and and you know have have networks
of arts and culture partners throughout throughout the Commonwealth. Folks
(16:35):
can go to social r x dot com and fill
out the partner information form on our website and that's
a great initial way to get in touch with us,
and somebody on our team will be in touch, in
touch shortly, you know, I want to share just a
brief story maybe before before we wrap up, which is
(16:58):
and and and both Eric and Unicole kind of spoke
to a version of this of you know, a member
is socially isolated. I think this individual had not left
their home for several months, really a lot of fear
(17:18):
about what maybe you know, it means for them to
be out in the community. And through working with their
care navigator, they were referred to us by their health
plan and working with their care navigator, the member ended
up going to a community center and met some people
who said, hey, you don't have to wait for next
(17:41):
month's prescription to come back. Why don't you come back
next weekend? And so this individual shared this just great
sort of testimonial that they had come to realize after
a couple of months of participating, come to realize what
(18:03):
an amazing community they live in, that they love the
town that they live in. And this is somebody again
who had not left their home for months, and that
is good for that individual. It is good for that
local community, It is good for the health system. Right.
It's a win when win all the way around. And
(18:25):
and so, uh, you know, the big dream here is
not only does does this you know, get get do
we match up this healthcare and arts and culture you
know ecosystem, but that we create some some behavior change
and real uh sort of longitudinal life impact for for
(18:48):
individuals to learn how to better access and participate in
the existing resources that are already available to them in
their community.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, because a lot of us we're leaning on this
right now. You can't see this as radio, but I'm
shaking my phone. A lot of us are stuck on
the screens. But there is so much of a world
out there that so many of us don't get to
enjoy because we're stuck inside. We're stuck on our screens.
We're too much in the virtual world. This just seems
like a perfect way for us to get outside and
(19:17):
enjoy everything that Massachusetts has to offer. Social rx dot com.
And if a patient, maybe somebody's listening, thinking I could
really use this, they should tell their provider to do
what tell.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Their healthcare providers to contact social arx dot com. Exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
All right, beautiful and Eric, how can people connect with
you over at the council?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
We're at mass Culturalcuncil dot org. We are doing a
number of remarkable things in addition to what you're hearing here.
Programs like Card to Culture, where anyone on a who
has a snap card or an EBT card or a
wickcard has access to more than four hundred cultural organizations
at free or reduced costs. More than a million people
have taken advantage of that. And we also offer grants
(19:58):
to our cultural set through a number of different programs.
So you can reach us in mass Culturrecoonncol dot org
and find the people to connect with or get in
touch with me, and we'll make sure that we support
you the best we can.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Phenomenal, Eric and Chris, great work you're doing. Keep it up.
I love this. Thank you for helping the people of
Massachusetts really embrace culture again.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
And Nicole, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Thank you to Coole.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Happy Spring, by the way.
Join us again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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