In the News


Health Affairs: Rescinding Health-Related Social Needs Guidance Undermines Trump’s Own Economic Goals
In early March 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump administration abruptly rescinded its multiyear guidance framework on health-related social needs (HRSN), elim...
Paying Providers to Address Health-Related Social Needs
Many early discoveries of how poverty and other social risk factors shape the trajectory of disease are the result of researchers leveraging large datasets to study rare events. One was the Dutch Hung...
Massachusetts Starts the Country's First Arts Prescription Program for Physical and Behavioral Health
Some Massachusetts patients seeking physical and behavioral health care services could receive treatment in the form of arts and culture activities under a new model being embraced by state officials....
World Health Organization Releases New Guidance On Monitoring the Social Determinants of Health Equity
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released an operational framework for monitoring social determinants of health equity and actions addressing them. This critical new guidance aims to support co...
Consistent Measurement of the Drivers of Health
Research indicates that an estimated 20 percent of health outcomes are linked to medical care; the remaining 80 percent stem from socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioral factors referred to as so...
What Doctors Wish Patients Knew About Social Drivers of Health
Health outcomes are not solely determined by medical interventions. Rather, they are heavily influenced by factors that extend far beyond the walls of a hospital or exam room. From the neighborhoods t...