As opportunities to address health-related social needs (HRSN) as part of health care continue to grow, many states, health care organizations, and community-based organizations (CBOs) providing social care supports are looking to networked HRSN service delivery. Specifics vary, but this approach generally (1) involves coordination and collaboration between CBOs to perform under one or more contracts with health care organizations, and (2) utilizes a hub-and-spoke design in which certain responsibilities,
technologies, and processes are situated in a central organization (a “hub”) that supports participating service providers (each a “spoke”). Network contracting may be driven by a range of goals including:

• Scaling effective interventions;
• Improving care coordination and reducing fragmentation;
• Minimizing administrative and other “back-end” operations-related responsibilities of CBOs on the front line;
• Streamlining and otherwise simplifying contracting for health care organizations; and
• Centralizing infrastructure investments (e.g., billing capabilities, referral platforms) to minimize duplication of efforts.

This resource was developed to aid organizations in identifying and navigating unique legal and regulatory considerations for network-based models of social care integration with health care.

View the resource: Network Contracting to Address Health-Related Social Needs: Considerations for HIPAA Compliance