Medicaid Spending and Health-Related Social Needs in the North Carolina Healthy Opportunities Pilots Program.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Health-related social needs are drivers of worse health and high health care spending. In North Carolina Medicaid's 1115 waiver, the Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) program allows for nonmedical services to address health-related social needs, such as healthy food boxes and housing navigation, financed by Medicaid, in 3 regions of North Carolina.

Objective

To determine whether individual participation in the HOP program is associated with lower Medicaid spending.

Design, setting, and participants

Comparative interrupted time series evaluation using North Carolina Medicaid data from March 2021 through November 2023. The 13 227 HOP enrollees were compared with 73 469 Medicaid beneficiaries reporting a health-related social need (a HOP eligibility criterion

SUBMITTER: Berkowitz SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11869083 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature