RISE looks at recent headlines concerning social determinants of health (SDoH).
Study: Gap in SNAP benefits persisted for many families amid rising food costs in 2022
A recent study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits failed to cover families’ meals in 78 percent of U.S. counties.
Despite the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) made to SNAP benefits in 2022, the food-assistance program fell short in covering families’ meals amid record-breaking rising food costs, according to a survey conducted by Urban Institute. While the maximum SNAP per-meal benefit was $2.74, the cost of a moderately priced meal cost $3.14 in the final quarter of 2022, creating a 15 percent gap the benefits didn’t cover.
The implementation of the 2023 COLA, which became effective October 13, 2022 through September 30, 2023, did have positive effects on narrowing the gap in food insecurity, noted researchers. According to the study, the number of counties with “adequate” benefits increased from 27 counties to 687, and the share of counties with a gap between SNAP benefits and meal costs cropped from 99 percent to 78 percent. Further, the national gap between SNAP benefits and meal costs decreased from $0.71 per meal (a 29 percent gap) to $0.40 per meal (a 15 percent gap).
The survey also found that:
- The gap between SNAP benefits and meal costs in the five counties with the largest gaps declined from 75 percent to 50 percent after the 2023 COLA.
- Four of the five counties with the largest gap were rural, including Leelanau County, Mich.; Teton County, Idaho; and Lincoln County and Teton County, Wyo.
- The gap between SNAP benefits and the cost of a meal was overall larger in urban areas than in rural areas.
- The five urban counties with the largest gaps included New York County, N.Y.; Marin County and San Francisco County, Calif.; Butte County, Idaho; and Arlington County, Va.
HHS announces nearly $48M in funding for opioid use disorder
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced this week five grant programs, totaling $47.8 million, to further address the overdose epidemic in the United States.
“Improving access to evidence-based treatment is one of the pillars of the HHS Overdose Prevention Strategy,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement. “Funding multifaceted efforts to prevent and treat addiction reflects our commitment to helping Americans attain and sustain recovery.”
The five grant programs include:
- The Medication-Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction Grant Program, which will award 21 grants, totaling $18.4 million, to expand and improve access to medications for opioid use disorder.
- The Emergency Department Alternatives to Opioids Demonstration Program, which will provide 15 awards, totaling $7.4 million, to implement alternatives to opioids for pain management in hospitals and emergency department settings.
- The Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act (STOP Act) program will award 50 grants, totaling $3 million, to prevent and reduce alcohol use among individuals ages 12-20 across the country.
- The Adult Reentry Program will provide 34 grants, totaling $13.6 million, to expand substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, recovery, and reentry services to incarcerated adults who have SUD and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders.
- The State Pilot Grant Program for Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women will distribute six awards, totaling $5.4 million, to improve funding for family-based services for pregnant and postpartum women with SUD.
Study examines the role digital health plays in OUD treatment
Health care organizations treating opioid use disorder (OUD) are using digital health technologies as complements to existing substance use disorder (SUD) treatments rather than as a substitute to treatment, according to a recent study published by JAMA Network.
To better understand how U.S. health care organizations use patient-facing digital health technologies in OUD treatment, researchers examined the 2022 National Survey of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) data, between October 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, of 276 organizations with ACO contracts.
Key findings include:
- One-third of the organizations surveyed (33.5 percent) used at least one of the three forms of digital health technology, including remote mental health therapy and tracking (26.5 percent), virtual peer recovery support programs (15.1 percent), and digital recovery support for adjuvant cognitive behavior therapy (9.0 percent).
- Organizations with an addiction medicine specialist or a registry to track mental health were significantly more likely to use digital health technologies compared to organizations that lacked similar resources.
Though digital health technologies can play an important role in OUD treatment, such as expanding availability of services amid practitioner shortages and other limitations in OUD care delivery, existing barriers must be addressed to expand the access to and implementation of technology in health care settings with limited resources, explained the research team.
“Our results suggest that digital health technologies for OUD are more likely to be deployed by organizations with relatively robust traditional SUD treatment resources,” wrote researchers. “As such, the technology appears to complement existing SUD treatment resources rather than substitute for unavailable SUD treatment resources.”