Monday, April 13, 2020
Webinar: Thursday, April 16, 2020, 3:00 PM Eastern
Health And Human Services Integration: Seizing The Opportunity To Generate Sustained Health And Equity Improvements
The April 2020 issue of Health Affairs examines the integration of social services and health, and features an article cowritten by Jorge Delva, Dean, Boston University School of School of Social Work, and Director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health. Dr. Delva and coauthors will discuss the article, Health and Human Services Integration: Generating Sustained Health and Equity Improvements during a webinar hosted by Health Affairs.
Abstract: Concurrent increases in evidence about social determinants of health and the use of value-based health care incentives are driving new efforts to integrate health care and human services. Despite expectations that the integration of these complementary services could improve health, reduce health inequities, and reduce potentially avoidable health care use and costs, current evidence on the effectiveness, implementation, and sustainability of such cross-sectoral partnerships is sparse and mixed. To realize the potential of health care and human services integration, knowledge gaps in these key areas must be filled. In doing so, particular attention needs to be paid to understanding how power and resource differentials between organizations in the two sectors influence integration approaches and their impacts. Furthermore, increased societal investments in resources to address social needs are likely necessary for integrative initiatives to yield desired individual- and population-level impacts.