The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a first-of-its-kind report on social determinants of health (SDoH) among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries.

Home health providers have turned their attention to SDoH and whole-person care because now hospitals and health systems acknowledge the value of nutrition, transportation and socialization support in avoiding preventable readmissions.

Outside of FFS Medicare, home care providers are turning their attention to SDoH encouraged by growing opportunities within Medicare Advantage (MA).

CMS’s new report is about providing quantifiable insights into the prevalence of social determinants of health and increase further awareness throughout the continuum of care.

The report underscores the value in-home care providers bring to the table. Along with this it also emphasizes the need for better and more standardized reporting of SDoH within the health care sector.

Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare is one of the major health systems to recognize the importance of considering SDoH. For example, in 2018 Intermountain worked along with in-home care provider Lifesprk to launch SDoH inspired joint venture “Homespire.”

Rajesh Shreestha, chief operating officer of community-based care for Intermountain said that along with the Homespire joint venture, it has been possible for them to wrap all those services around with activities of daily living and social determinants of health work. The package together, will be the most comprehensive home-based program in the U.S., once it is introduced and implemented.

Along with calling out how many Medicare FFS claims had Z codes in 2017, CMS’s report also flagged a connection between SDoH and many common chronic conditions that in-home providers help to treat.