While the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased existing demands for essential resources that our critical to our health, the healthcare system continues to be disincentivized to establish a business case to fund effective upstream prevention. Today, SDOH interventions represent only 2% of overall dollars spent as part of healthcare’s Community Benefit programs, and while on the rise, the sector struggles to establish a robust value story that could support long-term investment.
Drawing on key learnings from our collaborative and community information exchange projects, this paper aims to offer a starting point to address power imbalances in healthcare payment structures, build a more equitable, community-centered reimbursement, funding and incentive systems, and shift resources to include upstream, preventive interventions.