In Bloomberg Law, Brett Friedman Discusses New York State Medicaid Coverage Waver for Health-Related Social Needs

In a Bloomberg Law article, health care partner Brett Friedman discussed how New York State’s Medicaid program recently received approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for an experimental demonstration project that allows temporary funding for services beyond the standard Medicaid benefit with the goal of improving health care outcomes and saving the state money. This includes funding for services such as transportation, rental assistance, nutritional support and home modifications for medical needs. Eight states including New York have introduced Medicaid coverage for health-related social needs.

“Every state, regardless of political will, wants their Medicaid program to be as cost-effective as possible. I think that if the data comes out at the end of these waivers that shows the interventions paying for things like food or housing are really effective at saving overall costs, other states have every incentive to do it as well,” said Brett.