Molina Healthcare Inc. has launched a Social Determinants of Health Innovation Center in Columbus, Ohio. The new center is charged with developing programs and best practices to address healthcare access barriers created by social factors, with a goal of enhancing patient-centered care across Molina’s service areas throughout the United States.
The Innovation Center seeks to partner with local and national community-based organizations, providers and stakeholders to better serve the social and physical needs of Molina members.
“As an organization that prides itself on its regional focus and partnerships, Molina looks forward to applying SDOH best practices across our nationwide footprint to benefit all the local communities we serve,” said Jason Dees, M.D., chief medical officer for Long Beach, Calif.-based Molina Healthcare. “The Innovation Center will closely collaborate with and support our local and national partners, as we look to identify, test, implement and scale best practices throughout our service areas.”
The Innovation Center will act under a shared services model and be accountable for driving the company’s SDOH strategy. It will be an arm of the office of the chief medical officer and will optimize Molina engagement efforts across national and regional partners. The Innovation Center will integrate SDOH into Molina’s models of care through several initiatives, including: the collection and analysis of data on members’ SDOH needs to inform partnerships and program development; the documentation of SDOH interventions with Molina’s local partners; the development of national programs aimed at advancing health outcomes through various SDOH supports; and the creation of a database of Molina SDOH member outcomes that will inform programmatic refinements and the development of best practices for implementation throughout the enterprise.
Publicly traded Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 500 company, provides managed healthcare services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. Through its locally operated health plans, it served approximately 3.3 million members as of Sept. 30, 2019.
