Screening for social needs is one thing. Helping people problem-solve successfully is another.
November 2021
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Excited by a new frontier that recognizes people’s legal rights, risks and remedies as fundamental to high-quality care planning and delivery? We’re recruiting a Law & Policy Consultant to join our team. This new colleague will partner with communities of care in Rhode Island as well as in Massachusetts and nationally; and will support MLPB’s refinement of our team-facing legal partnering innovation.
Deadline to apply: Dec. 31, 2021

The DULCE Evidence Base Continues to Grow!
Earlier this month, a new DULCE paper was published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Entitled Cross-Sector Approach Expands Screening and Addresses Health-Related Social Needs in Primary Care, the paper presents data collected at 5 DULCE sites that shows:
- an increase in family engagement with well-child visits; and
- reliable detection of, and responses to, health-related social needs disclosed by families.
Read the paper lead-authored by MaryCatherine Arbour here, as well as a companion blog post published by the Center for the Study of Social Policy.
To explore how to bring DULCE to your community, contact Azieb Ermias, Senior Program Analyst at CSSP, at azieb.ermias@cssp.org.
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Breaking Legal Developments in MA at the Intersection of Health, Housing and Justice:
An Initial Explainer & Reflection for Communities of Care
Are you seeing recent headlines about court cases involving housing and health in Boston? Confused about what this means for your team’s/organization’s housing problem-solving with the people you serve? Check out our newest blog. |
You’ll learn about: |
- The cases and the rulings;
- Implications for housing-related problem-solving;
- Related policy proposals;
- and More!

Invested in positive health and living conditions in RI?
Check out the Rhode Island Life Index 2021!
On November 8, the Rhode Island Life Index 2021 was released during a public event you can view here. A joint collaboration of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Brown University School of Public Health, the Life Index captures Rhode Islanders’ perceptions of their quality of life and their quality of community. Key learning from the 2021 Life Index:
- RI residents score programs and services for children significantly lower in 2021 as compared to 2019-2020.
- For people living in core cities, as well as those who identified as Latinx, there was a significant decrease in perceptions of the availability of services for older adults from 2019 to 2021.
- From 2019 through 2021, BIPOC Rhode Islanders living in core cities identify access to affordable housing and cost of living as much greater barriers to health and well-being than white Rhode Islanders living in non-core areas.
- For virtually all people surveyed, access to quality and affordable housing is a challenge.
MLPB is proud to serve as a member of the RI Life Index Coalition, supporting survey design and implementation, among other things.

Screening for health-related social needs is one thing.
Helping people problem-solve successfully is quite another.
Today, on #givingtuesday, you can advance health through justice by giving to MLPB.
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Designed for teams committed to human-centered social care, MLPB’s Digital Digest distills key law and policy updates across many domains of health-related social need that impact individuals, families, and communities.
It’s open enrollment season for health insurance!
- Medicare’s open enrollment deadline is December 7, 2021.
- Individuals and families can check out the Massachusetts and Rhode Island health insurance exchanges to see if they qualify for free or lower-cost health insurance. The deadline to enroll in MA is January 23, 2022; the deadline in RI is January 31, 2022.
Visit the RI and MA Digital Digest to learn more!
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Disparities, Inequity & Care (Re)Design
- A US State Index of Successful Aging: Differences Between States and Over Time (The Milbank Quarterly, Nov. 23, 2021)
- Electronic Health Records As Biased Tools Or Tools Against Bias: A Conceptual Model (The Milbank Quarterly, Nov. 23, 2021)
- Bridging The Health Equity Gap: Strategies To Create An Equitable Health System For Latinx Communities (Health Affairs Blog, Nov. 19, 2021)
- Using Federal Funds To Address Drivers Of Health For COVID-19 Recovery And Beyond (Health Affairs Blog, Nov. 17, 2021)
- American Indian/Alaska Native Child Health and Poverty (Academic Pediatrics, Nov. 1, 2021)
- Association Of Neighborhood Disadvantage With Racial Disparities In COVID-19 Positivity in Chicago (Health Affairs, Nov. 2021) subscription required
- Intersecting Systemic And Personal Barriers To Accessing Social Services: Qualitative Interviews In Northern California (BMC Public Health, Oct. 24 2021)
- Distinguishing Neighborhood And Individual Social Risk Factors In Health Care (Health Research and Educational Trust, Oct. 1, 2021)
Education & Health
- Most BPS Students Learning English Aren’t Getting Appropriate Services (The Boston Globe, Nov. 14, 2021)
Employment, Income Supports & Health
- SNAP Can Slash Healthcare Costs. But How To Boost Enrollment? (Food Bank News, Nov. 17, 2021)
- L.A., Chicago Giving Away Cash With No Strings Attached To Residents In Need. Are Universal Basic Income Programs Working? (USA Today, Nov. 13, 2021) subscription required
- Family Who Lost Federal Benefits For Living In Puerto Rico Looks To Supreme Court (NBC News, Nov. 8, 2021)
- ACLU Suit Against R.I. Ends With Settlement Over Unemployment Benefit Freeze (The Boston Globe, Nov. 4, 2021)
Housing & Health
- Supporting Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness Through Community Partnerships (The Playbook, Nov. 22, 2021)
- With Cases Piling Up, An Eviction Crisis Unfolds Step By Step (The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2021)
- The Tech That Slumlords Hate (Bloomberg CityLab, Oct. 7, 2021)
Immigration & Health
- Why Recently Arrived Haitian Migrants Need State Assistance (The Boston Globe, Nov. 15, 2021)
Criminal Legal Systems & Health
- Initiating Medicaid Coverage In Prison 30-Days Prior To Reentry (Health Affairs Blog, Nov. 24, 2021)
- Why Philadelphia Has Banned Low-Level Traffic Stops (NPR, Nov. 8, 2021)
- Medical Legal Partnerships’ Role In Improving Health Among People Released From Incarceration (Health Affairs Blog, Oct. 28, 2021)
- Prison And Jail Reentry And Health (Health Affairs, Oct. 28, 2021)
Maternal and Child Health
- Families In Lowell Rally For Universal Early Education (The Boston Globe, Nov. 14, 2021)
- Boston-Based Advocacy Effort Launched To Push For Child-Care System Reform (The Boston Globe, Nov. 8, 2021)
- Housing and Neighborhoods As Root Causes of Child Poverty (Academic Pediatrics, Nov. 1, 2021)
- Integrating Health Care Strategies To Prevent Poverty-Related Disparities In Development And Growth: Addressing Core Outcomes Of Early Childhood (Academic Pediatrics, Nov. 1, 2021)
- Pediatricians Contributing to Poverty Reduction Through Clinical-Community Partnership and Collective Action: A Narrative Review (Academic Pediatrics, Nov. 1, 2021)
- A Children’s Health And Wellness Fund: A New Way For States To Support Children’s Long-Term Health (Milbank Memorial Fund, Sep. 29, 2021)
Social Care Innovation
- Using Policy Tools To Improve Population Health — Combating The U.S. Opioid Crisis (The New England Journal Of Medicine, Nov. 27, 2021) subscription required
- A Strategic Vision For Medicaid And The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) (Health Affairs Blog, Nov. 16, 2021)
- Measuring What Matters: Social Drivers Of Health (The Commonwealth Fund, Nov. 2, 2021)
- Clinical Approaches To Reducing Material Hardship Due To Poverty: Social Risks/Needs Identification And Interventions (Academic Pediatrics, Nov. 1, 2021)
- Resource Brokering: Efforts To Assist Patients With Housing, Transportation, And Economic Needs In Primary Care Settings (Annals of Family Medicine, Nov. 1, 2021)
- Opportunity To Inform Social Needs Within A Hospital Setting using Data-Driven Patient Engagement (BMJ Open Quality, Oct. 27, 2021)
- Health Care Professionals’ Perspectives On Universal Screening Of Social Determinants Of Health: A Mixed-Methods Study (Population Health Management, Oct. 25, 2021)
- For Profit, But Socially Determined: The Rise Of The SDOH Industry (Population Health Management, Oct. 14, 2021)
Transportation & Health
- Minding The Access Gap: Addressing Both The Digital And Transportation Divides To Improve Outcomes (Health Affairs Blog, Nov. 12, 2021)