Newsletter, periodic publication

Through support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, CHCS has published a Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda to help involve people with lived experiences with complex care in the research process. The Better Care Playbook spoke to two individuals who helped develop the Research Agenda to learn how involving people with lived experience in research can help strengthen the complex care evidence base.

This blog post from Mathematica discusses the importance of partnerships between states and the federal government through highlighting topics covered at NAMD's 2022 conference. Sessions touched on innovations developed as part of recently approved 1115 demonstrations in Arizona, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Arkansas which focused on the ways states are providing whole-person care by addressing the health-related social needs of members. The post also explores Mathematica's work with CMS and states to build stronger measurement and evaluation infrastructure for a broad range of demonstrations, including those addressing substance use disorder, mental illness, and health-related social needs.

Health Affairs has published a new blog highlighting the value of improving health and well-being through establishing community care hubs. Hubs are characterized as community-focused entities that support a network of community-based organizations providing services for health-related social needs. The blog complements ACL’s investments to develop and scale community care hubs across the country including the National Learning Community, and plans to administer grants to support community care hub infrastructure.

This article presents case studies from different global regions to illustrate how disabilities are often overlooked in responding to climate-related health impacts and disaster planning. Health Affairs draws particular attention to mutual aid networks led by people with disabilities in adapting to climate-related health impacts and makes suggestions policy makers and practitioners can use to integrate disability justice into their work.

The Maximizing Independence (MIND) at Home program at Johns Hopkins University provides home and community-based care coordination for individuals and families living with dementia. Through focus groups with Black caregivers, researchers at Johns Hopkins aimed to better understand the unique needs of Black patients and families living with dementia, identify opportunities to improve care delivery, and understand caregivers’ perception of the MIND at Home program. This blog post from The Playbook explains the MIND at Home program and how dementia care coordination programs can better support Black patients and their families.

Each September ACL celebrates the nation’s senior centers. The 2022 National Senior Center Month theme, is Strengthening Community Connections, and highlights the valuable role senior centers play in the community through connecting older adults with critical programs and services. In this blog post, ACL recognizes senior centers as partners in supporting the health and independence of older adults.

With support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, CHCS brought together patients, providers, researchers, and clinicians to develop a Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda. The agenda aims to embed a consistent focus on what matters most to patients into complex care research design and will be released in Fall 2022. This blog post shares lessons for including patient perspectives to guide research priorities, based on CHCS’ experience creating a patient and family advisory board and a research community to help inform the Research Agenda.

This series of three AARP Public Policy Institute and Mathematica Spotlight reports analyze SNAP participation among older adults and the policies that affect it.

This Better Care Playbook profile of the SASH model is part of an ongoing series, In the Field: Spotlight on Complex Care Interventions, that is highlighting how organizations are implementing evidence-based and promising innovations to improve care for people with complex health and social needs.

Experts at The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the state of Tennessee say families in poverty with disabilities in Tennessee and nationwide face difficulty both accessing and utilizing long term services and supports (LTSS) in both rural and urban areas. This article breaks down issues of accessibility across the country by discussing how affordable housing, transportation, and social determinants of health affect individuals differently based on their ability and region.