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Healthcare organizations today need to think smart when it comes to connecting with the communities they serve. They must find innovative means to amplify communications and connect efficiently yet meaningfully on an individual basis that will help lead to greater patient engagement among underserved and at-risk populations. Clearly, text messaging is a 21st century tool that can help providers change behaviors, reduce readmissions, and get patients the care they need.

There are a number of good platforms available that enable health care organizations to systematically screen their patients for social needs and identify potential resources for them in their community. These are a good start, but the goal should be to integrate such software both with internal electronic health records and with databases and systems on the social-sector side of things. This will enable more effective hand-offs between the sectors, better tracking of outcomes, and more coordination between health care and social services organizations.

The American Rescue Plan provides $1.9 trillion in funding to address the ongoing health and economic effects of the pandemic. This includes provisions to make health insurance more affordable by temporarily expanding and increasing Marketplace subsidies and fiscal incentives to encourage states that have not adopted the Medicaid expansion to do so.