Phil Bridges Executive Director of Integrated Communications | UNC Health
Phil Bridges Executive Director of Integrated Communications | UNC Health
A state-run pilot program in North Carolina, designed to assist Medicaid recipients with health-related social needs like food insecurity and housing instability, has resulted in reduced spending over time. This conclusion comes from an evaluation led by Seth A. Berkowitz, MD, MPH, an associate professor at the UNC School of Medicine. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Berkowitz expressed optimism about the results: “What I think is exciting about the findings is that they support the underlying idea of the Healthy Opportunities Pilots — that by addressing health-related social needs, the Medicaid program can improve the health of its beneficiaries.”
The Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP), part of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), is a pioneering program in the United States. It aims to test and evaluate non-medical interventions related to housing, food, transportation, interpersonal safety, and toxic stress for high-needs Medicaid enrollees. The federal government has approved up to $650 million in Medicaid funding for these pilots over five years.
In their study, Berkowitz and his colleagues analyzed data from March 2021 through November 2023. They compared 13,227 HOP participants with 73,469 other Medicaid recipients who had reported health-related social needs but were not eligible for HOP due to their county of residence.
Initial spending for HOP participants increased during their first month of enrollment. However, it trended downward by an average of $85 per beneficiary per month over time. After about eight months in HOP, monthly spending aligned with what it would have been without participation in HOP but continued to decrease thereafter.
Berkowitz was joined by co-authors Jessica Archibald; Zhitong Yu; Myklynn LaPoint; Salma Ali; Maihan B. Vu; Gaurav Dave; Kori B. Flower; and Marisa Elena Domino on this publication. All authors are affiliated with UNC except Domino from Arizona State University.
UNC School of Medicine is noted as North Carolina's largest medical school with significant research funding and faculty achievements.
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