You’ve Got Mail! A Spotlight on Using Email to Screen for Health-Related Social Needs
Evidence | Publications

You’ve Got Mail! A Spotlight on Using Email to Screen for Health-Related Social Needs

Published: Jun 01, 2021
Publisher: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Health Delivery System Reforms Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Population Health Federal Advisory Services Technical Assistance Peer Learning
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Associated Project

Accountable Health Communities: Identifying and Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Time frame: 2017–2022

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation

Key Findings
  • During the first two months of the email campaign, the average response rate was 8 percent and 431 beneficiaries completed screening.
  • Compared to in-person and phone screening, which could take upwards of 20 minutes, self-administration of HRSN screening through the online survey platform took an average of 3 minutes of beneficiaries’ time.
  • DRCOG made adjustments to ensure that staff could address HRSNs for beneficiaries identified through the email screening. DRCOG initially used existing staff to provide community service navigation for beneficiaries completing the email screening, but these staff could not keep up with the increased caseload. DRCOG hired three new staff members dedicated to supporting navigation for the email campaign and reduced the number of beneficiaries receiving emails each day.
  • DRCOG noticed a four-fold increase in the percentage of beneficiaries who disclosed a safety need via the email screening.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), an Accountable Health Communities Model awardee, launched an email campaign to remotely screen Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries for health-related social needs (HRSNs). DRCOG used data collected through these patient-administered screenings to identify those eligible for community service navigation and address their HRSNs. This spotlight describes DRCOG’s approach to designing, implementing, and tracking the success of the email campaign.

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