Paying for Biopsychosocial Care

The system used to pay for health care today does not encourage the integration of health care and social care, nor can it adequately adapt to the trending shift toward value-based payments for care — paying for better quality and better health outcomes. New financing approaches are needed to enable the health care sector to engage in activities that strengthen social care and community resource.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://healthcare-wiki.com/2021/07/21/paying-for-biopsychosocial-care/

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
The system used to pay forhealth care today does not encourage
the integration of health careand social care, nor can it adequately
adapt to the trending shifttoward value based payments for care
paying for better quality andbetter health outcomes. New financing
approaches are needed toenable the health care sector to
engage in activities thatstrengthen social care and community
resources. MCOs are obligatedto provide care management, which

(00:26):
includes the authority forMCOs to use their Medicaid funding
to identify social care needsand link people to services. MCOs
can use their Medicaid fundsto pay for social care as in lieu
of services or as value addedservices, for example to provide
medically tailored meals for ahome bound individual or an air conditioner
for a severely asthmaticchild. Some states require MCOs to

(00:47):
contract with existingcommunity based organizations to
provide services such asombudsman advocacy services, nursing
home eligibility assessments,and care management.