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The federal government has announced a $157 million project to help hospitals and doctors link Medicare and Medicaid patients to needed social services that sometimes have a bigger impact on their health than medical interventions. ... The goal of the “Accountable Health Communities” project is to find better ways to identify patients’ non-medical needs and connect them to available services in their communities. (Rovner, 1/5)

Doctors, community workers and social researchers have long recognized a link between the hardships of poverty and health problems. Now the government is launching an experiment to see if seamless social work can improve the health of vulnerable Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and perhaps even lower costs, by heading off emergency room visits and hospitalizations. (Alonso-Zalvidar, 1/5)

The CMS Innovation Center announced Tuesday that it would explicitly test whether addressing the social conditions that affect health can lower healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. The effort reflects the government's ambition to shift the industry toward value-based payment models as well as an acknowledgement that social factors, not just the quality of healthcare services, determine the health of a community. (Johnson, 1/5)

Medicare and Medicaid will pay providers and other organizations to screen patients about social needs like homelessness, domestic violence and hunger when they visit the hospital, under a new demonstration project announced Tuesday. (Mershon, 1/5)