Manatt Health Senior Advisor Zoe Barnard was quoted in Bloomberg Law on the business case for states to embrace rolling social needs like housing and nutrition services into Medicaid.
The article explained how New York is the latest state to receive approval to use Medicaid funds on health-related social services. Barnard commented that this recent move to cover these services as a part of health care can serve as an outlet for states to test whether preventative social interventions can lead to long term savings. “One of the things that states are recognizing when taking this approach is that there’s a business case to be made too. Sometimes, the simplest things are way more effective than some of the more complex interventions,” Barnard said. She added that the success of these demonstrations could lead to a paradigm shift in the way Medicaid benefits are permanently delivered.
Bloomberg Law subscribers can read the full article here.