On January 16th, the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) released a Request for Applications (RFA) that will provide a total of $500 million to support new, regionally-based Social Care Networks (SCNs) developed as part of New York’s Health Equity Reform 1115 Waiver amendment (see SPG’s summary of the amendment here). DOH will award up to 13 entities across nine regions, with one award to be allocated in each of the five boroughs of New York City. Grant funding awarded through this RFA will support SCN start-up and infrastructure costs in each region during the award period. The contract term for awards will be from August 1, 2024 through March 31, 2027.
Through this RFA, awarded entities will become NYS-designated SCN leads and will enroll in eMedNY as a “Social Care Network Medicaid Provider.” SCNs will be responsible for coordinating the delivery of social care services to Medicaid members, including by providing Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) screening to all Medicaid members and maintaining a comprehensive network of community-based organizations (CBOs) to support the delivery of “Enhanced” HRSN services (also known as Level Two services) to eligible members in need.
The RFA defines CBOs, which constitute the SCN network, as not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that work at the local level to meet community needs. This definition appears to extend to non-profit health care providers in addition to social services agencies who are not currently health care providers.
The RFA is available here. Applications are due on March 27th. SPG’s detailed summary of the RFA is available here. As always, if you have questions, please reach out to us at any time to discuss.