Addressing Health-Related Social Needs
Meeting people’s health-related social needs (HRSN) has always mattered. Under any conditions, the health of individuals, families and communities hinges substantially on stable access to safe, healthy, and affordable housing; to reliable heat, lights, water, internet and phone service; to nutritious food; to transportation resources; to protection from violence, abuse, and exploitation; and much more.
In typical times, the systems that exist to help people meet those needs have been under-resourced and hard-to-navigate for individuals and families. The COVID-19 pandemic has made what was already a difficult landscape an extraordinarily challenging – even impossible – one to traverse. Against this backdrop, MLPB has launched this open-access Digital Digest at the intersection of COVID-19 lawmaking and HRSN problem-solving.
This tool:
- Curates evolving information and resources in key domains of health-related social need
- Translates what these developments mean for people and the communities of care who partner with them
- Offers projections on how things might continue to change
- Spotlights key federal (nation-wide) themes in resources, benefits and legal protections as well as state-specific information for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where MLPB does extensive work.
IMPORTANT: MLPB will update this content as appropriate, and Digest readers should note the last-reviewed timestamp and click on the hyperlinks to access the most current information. In addition, this information is for educational purposes only; nothing in it should be construed as legal advice.
