The Social Care Network (SCN) lead entity will focus on better enabling health-related social needs screenings and the delivery of services like housing, food security, transportation, and more.
UPSTATE N.Y. — New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) announced today that Healthy Alliance Foundation, Inc. (Healthy Alliance), a diverse, integrated network of human service, behavioral, and clinical providers across 25 counties in New York that connects thousands of community members to health-related social need (HRSN) services before they turn into serious and costly medical issues, has been awarded the Capital Region’s, Central New York’s, and North Country’s Social Care Network (SCN) lead entity — a fundamental part of the New York Health Equity Reform (NYHER) 1115 Waiver Amendment.
The NYHER 1115 Waiver Amendment — with an expected contract period through March 31, 2027 — will advance health equity, reduce health disparities, support the delivery of HRSN services, promote workforce development and substance use disorder demonstration authority, and strengthen access to high-quality care for all those with Medicaid coverage. As of March 2024, Medicaid members per region totals 258,440 in the Capital Region, 286,097 in Central New York, and 162,986 in the North Country.
The SCN lead entity’s role is to build and maintain a reliable network of contracted community-based organizations to better enable HRSN screenings and the delivery of housing, utilities, food security, transportation, employment, education, and interpersonal safety services across and within communities — what Healthy Alliance has been doing since 2018.
To date, Healthy Alliance’s network has completed more than 47,800 HRSN screenings and made more than 95,000 service connections, helping over 275,000 community members across its footprint.
“Our collective impact so far is because of our network partners and their unwavering commitment to those we serve,” said Erica Coletti, Healthy Alliance’s CEO. “Being the SCN lead entity in our regions furthers the work we’ve done in shifting focus from singular medical interventions to a more proactive approach that addresses the whole needs of a person on a much larger scale — something that can’t be done alone. Together, our network will continue its momentum toward giving everyone the same opportunity to be healthy.”
To create lasting change, the NYSDOH designation comes with a monetary award to focus on infrastructure, community-based organization support, and capacity building.
“Capacity building is one of the core responsibilities of the SCN lead entity, which will include activities to further enhance the network’s ability to improve access to HRSN services,” said Scott Emery, Healthy Alliance’s Chief Strategy Officer. “We’ll need to assess community-based organization capabilities and provide training, technical assistance, data sharing, and more in a manner that enhances their participation in the network. And all of this is for the sake of meeting community members’ needs — our collective goal.”
Head to www.HealthyAlliance.org to learn more about how Healthy Alliance is cultivating the type of change that improves health and empowers the underserved. To learn more about the NYHER 1115 Waiver Amendment and SCN lead entities, read NYSDOH’s award announcement.
