Mathematica and Socially Determined Partner to Illuminate the Impact of Social Risks on Health Care Cost and Outcomes for Government Organizations

Socially Determined, the social risk analytics and solutions company leading the integration of health and social care, and Mathematica, a research and data analytics consultancy driven by a mission to improve public well-being, today announced a partnership to help organizations at all levels of government improve programs, refine strategies, and deepen their understanding of the social determinants of health (SDoH). Through this partnership, Socially Determined is now the social risk data and analytics provider for Mathematica and its team of nearly 2,000 researchers, analysts, technologists, and practitioners working to build a more equitable and just world where evidence drives decisions for global impact.

Mathematica and Socially Determined bring together a unique combination of technology, expertise, and experience working with government organizations that can help them understand and quantify the impact of SDoH initiatives on health care cost and outcomes. Mathematica has a proven track record and reputation from more than five decades of experience using data and evidence to improve public health through its work with government agencies, private-sector organizations, foundations, and businesses. Socially Determined pioneered the field of social risk analytics to eliminate blind spots that exist within a health care sector that has traditionally only relied on clinical and claims data.

By leveraging Socially Determined’s data, Mathematica will offer its clients unparalleled insights into community-level SDoH risk exposure and individual social risk factors. This comprehensive understanding will reveal the profound effects of social risks on health care utilization, costs, outcomes, and equity. Such insights will enhance Mathematica’s industry-leading, data-driven solutions at both state and national levels, supporting strategic resource allocation and bolstering the ability for communities to address SDoH challenges.

“Health and social service agency leaders are more focused than ever on breaking down silos between programs to improve the well-being of the whole person. Achieving this mission at scale requires states to solve the hardest puzzle of all—finding the right data to develop, implement, and monitor their programs,” said Joshua Baker, vice president of state health at Mathematica. “Socially Determined has the industry’s most mature social risk measures, built on the most robust sources of data available. The data and policy expertise brought to bear through this new partnership, combined with our reach and experience serving state and local governments, is a powerful force for public good.”

Government organizations continue to prioritize SDoH as they work to improve health care costs, quality, and access. For example, the White House published a playbook outlining federal government actions to address SDoH, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has stated that health equity will be a core focus of all of its work. State and local governments have also committed to studying and addressing the impacts of social factors on health costs and outcomes.

Socially Determined applies proprietary analytics to hundreds of data sets that it continuously evaluates and curates from public and private sources to quantify risk across seven domains at the community level, and five domains at the individual level for the entire United States. By analyzing this data alongside health care cost data (utilization and claims), Socially Determined’s Software as a Service (SaaS)-based platform, SocialScape, provides unique insight to understand where and how financial strain, food insecurity, transportation barriers, housing, and other social factors are driving excess costs and utilization, poor health outcomes, and health inequities.

“Mathematica and Socially Determined are remarkably aligned on our mission-driven focus and academic roots in a way that enables us to begin delivering value to clients on day one,” said Trenor Williams, CEO and co-founder of Socially Determined. “With the high-tech and high-touch strategy that our partnership enables us to deliver, we’re in a unique position to help organizations at all levels of government implement and realize value from data-driven strategies around SDoH that they couldn’t access before.”

Mathematica has begun exploring opportunities to use Socially Determined’s unique social risk data and analytics with current federal and state clients. For more information on this partnership, please reach out to Socially Determined or Paul Messino at Mathematica.