ASPE Request for Information: IMPACT ACT Research Study - Provider and Health Plan Approaches to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with Social Risk Factors

On October 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a Request for Information (RFI), IMPACT Act Research Study: Provider and Health Plan Approaches to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with Social Risk Factors.
The RFI focuses on one aspect of the larger study mandated by Congress in the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014; requiring ASPE to evaluate the effect of individuals’ socioeconomic status on quality measures and measures of resource use under the Medicare program. The first Report to Congress: Social Risk Factors and Performance Under Medicare’s Value-Based Payment Programs was released in December of 2016, and focused on socioeconomic information currently available in Medicare data. Following up on ASPE’s first report, HHS is interested in:

• How plans and providers serving Medicare beneficiaries identify beneficiaries with social risk factors
• Approaches plans and providers have used to address the needs of beneficiaries with social risk factors
• Evidence regarding the impact of these approaches on quality outcomes and the total cost of care
• Ways in which plans and providers disentangle beneficiaries’ social and medical risks and address each

Responses are due November 16, 2018 by email to ASPEImpactStudy@hhs.gov. The RFI is available here: https://aspe.hhs.gov/social-risk-factors-and-medicares-value-based-purchasing-programs-request-information