Sixty percent of health plans are screening for social determinants of health, but gaps in how they use that information for maternal health still persist.
Healthcare consulting firm Sage Growth Partners surveyed 50 health plan leaders and 300 recently pregnant women, as well as their caregivers, for a Sept. 9 report. About three-quarters of the health plan respondents represented national or regional plans covering more than 250,000 lives and possessing several lines of business. This survey is the latest in Sage Growth Partners’ research on health insurers’ maternal health strategies.
Despite the majority of health plans integrating SDOH screening data into programs, 80% consider themselves “somewhat confident” using it, while 7% think of themselves as “very effective” at translating that data into action.
Here are six other takeaways from the survey:
- During and after pregnancy, 40% of mothers and their caregivers reported mental health and stress challenges. Despite this ranking as the most common challenge, only 32% were offered mental health counseling or screening by their health plan.
- Following mental health, transportation, housing stability and food security were the next biggest issues noted by mothers and their caregivers.
- Fourteen percent of mothers and their caregivers said their health plans did not offer any of the reviewed support services, including assistance with food, transportation and safe sleep.
- Health plans logged low income, behavioral health or substance use diagnoses, and geographic isolation as the most common factors shaping infant outcome disparities for their members.
- More than 40% of payers ranked addressing disparities and equity gaps as a strong maternal and neonatal intensive care unit approach over the next two years. However, 68% of plans considered equity as “important, but competes with other priorities.” Only 12% of plans reported health equity with dedicated resources as a top strategic priority. Six percent said “equity is not currently a primary focus.”
- Sixty-four percent of plans were comfortable with a 12-to-36-month horizon for proving return on investment with addressing disparities and nonclinical health drivers.
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