Registration Open for 6/8 Accountable Health Communities Webinar
Join co-hosts SIREN and the Camden Coalition Monday, June 8th, 9-10am PT/12-1pm ET for a webinar about the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Accountable Health Communities Model Final Evaluation Report (published February 2026). The event will include a brief report overview and a moderated discussion with AHC implementation site leaders from Colorado, New Jersey, and Oklahoma exploring their experiences with model implementation, impacts, and sustainability. 

Webinars

HealthBegins: Matching Services to Needs in Food Is Medicine: A Step-Down Model for Better Health Outcomes – May 27, 2026 | 10am PT/1pm ET

Systems for Action: Research to Understand Systemic Racism as a Barrier and Engagement with Child Mental Health Services – July 29, 2026 | 9am PT/12pm ET

Meetings & Conferences

AcademyHealth: 2026 Annual Research Meeting – May 30-June 2, 2026 | Seattle, WA. The SIREN team will be at this conference en force, sharing findings from four different SIREN research projects (linked sessions below).  

Camden Coalition: Putting Care at the Center 2026 – October 14-16, 2026 | Oakland, CA | Early bird registration is open through July 31, 2026

NAPCRG: 54th Annual Meeting – November 24-26, 2025 | Toronto, Canada 

Systems for Action: The Community-Led Aligning Toolkit – Originally broadcast May 6, 2026. The Toolkit is designed to help community-based organizations, policymakers, and cross-sector partnerships build capacity, share power, and foster equitable collaborations. 

Below, we share multiple SIREN-relevant articles published since the last newsletter. For a full list, see the SIREN Evidence and Resource Library. As always, if you are aware of resources that you think should be added to the library, please send them our way.

May Research Highlights

State Expansions in Medicaid Financial Assistance for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries: Changes in Enrollment and Use Fung V, Cheng D, Price M, et al. | Health Services Research

The impact of Medicare Savings Programs (MSP) eligibility expansions on MSP enrollment varied across states, with larger increases seen in states that expanded eligibility by raising income limits versus by eliminating asset tests. In income-expansion states, enrollment gains were associated with greater prescription drug use and fewer hospitalizations.

Factors Associated with Produce Prescription Program Enrollment and Benefit Use Among Patients with Diabetes and at Risk for Food Insecurity Rader A, Buckman C, Pignone M, German JC, Spratt SE, McPeek Hinz E, et al. | Journal of Nutrition

Among nearly 10,000 patients with diabetes at risk for food insecurity who were contacted about a produce prescription program (which provided $80/month for fruits and vegetables) enrollment and benefit use varied significantly by demographics. Older adults, males, Medicaid enrollees, and those in high-deprivation areas were less likely to enroll, suggesting that targeted outreach strategies are needed to ensure equitable reach. 

Impacts of a Produce Prescription Program on Food Security, Diet Quality, and Psychosocial Health of Adults with Medicaid and Chronic Health Conditions: A 12-Month Longitudinal Evaluation Zimmer R, Abdelfattah L, Shenberger D, Crotts C, Birken S, Hanchate A | Journal of General Internal Medicine

In this matched cohort study, Medicaid-insured adults with chronic conditions who received a 12-month produce prescription program (home-delivered produce plus dietitian coaching) showed significantly greater improvements in fruit and vegetable intake and loneliness compared to a SNAP-only group, with additional within-group improvements in food insecurity, depression, fatigue, and blood pressure.

Other New Research

We Care About Brooklyn: A Remote Precision Support Intervention Designed to Improve Maternal Health and Well-Being Afable A, Bruening S, Watson B, Araya F, Pardo C Women’s Health

This team presented these findings live at the 2025 SIREN National Research Meeting! Find their presentation here.

Potential for Bias in Social Needs Data Collection and Screening Activities in Health Care Settings Vest JR, Harle CA, McNamee C, Hammer NC, Gregory ME | JAMA Health Forum

Read the journal’s commentary on this paper here.

“What Do I Do About It?”: Perspectives About Conducting Health-Related Social Needs Screening and Response from Pediatricians Working at Federally Qualified Health Centers in the United States Lowery R, Wang L, Prasad RK, Gray MJ | Journal of Health Advocacy

“We Ask Because We Care”: Lived Experience of Social Determinants of Health Screening Among Social Workers and Nurse Case Managers Habrat ML, Smith SC, Ninneman A, Nelson D, Nelson LD | Journal of Primary Care and Community Health

A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring How Food Insecurity Screening Can Be Embedded in Routine Mental Health Care for Adults with Severe Mental Illness Tuschick E, Giles E, Smith J | Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics

Screening for Food Insecurity in Patients with Cirrhosis: A Pilot Study Byhoff E, Desrochers O, Rudel RK, Feld L, Goldberg DS, Bittermann T | Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology

Social Needs Screening in Hepatology Clinic: A Qualitative Study of Patient Experience Kim RG, Ballantyne A, Lancaster E, Galyean P, Sharareh N, Wallace A, et al. | BMC Gastroenterology

Addressing Health-Related Social Needs in Diabetes Care: Increasing Our Stride Toward Health Equity? O’Brien MJ, Formagini T | Diabetes Care

Embracing Co-Design and Interprofessional Teamwork to Build an Innovative Dashboard for a National Social Needs Screening and Referral Clinical Intervention in the Veterans Health Administration: Design and Development Study Russell LE, Leder SM, Boris J, Cohen AJ, Halladay CW, Mitchell KM, et al. | Journal of Medical Internet Research

Defining the Social Needs Service Cascade: Evidence from a Multistakeholder Qualitative Study Gilmore D, Bunger A, Garrity K, Bose-Brill S, Scheck McAlearney A, Hefner JL, et al. | Medical Care Research and Review

Medical-Legal Partnership as Value-Based Primary Care: Interprofessional Teamwork for Health-Related Social Needs Park JK, Beck AF, Warren K, Sage WM | Journal of General Internal Medicine

Assessing Caregiver Comfort with Linking the Health Care System and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Soltany KA, Lewis KH, Ospino-Sanchez B, Pack A, Montez K | JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

Patient Perceptions of Family Physicians’ Roles in Addressing Food Insecurity Huang L, Flts A, Moosavi A, Jha S, Collins P | Journal of Primary Care and Community Health

Strengthening Care Through Food is Medicine: Healthcare Provider-Patient Relationships and Provider Fulfillment in a Produce Prescription Program Palmer S, Church J, Brooks S, Maletich K, Stotz S | Journal of Primary Care and Community Health

Commentaries and Blogs

Improving Research on Transportation Interventions in Health Care Razon N, Gottlieb LM | Health Services Research

Addressing the Health Dangers of Loneliness Among Older People Butler S | JAMA Health Forum

Reframing Social Drivers of Health in Patient Quality and Safety Sandhu S, Liu M, Gottlieb LM | Annals of Internal Medicine

From Patienthood to Active Collaboration: Advancing Lived Experience Expertise in Addressing the Economic Determinants of Mental Health Jiménez-Solomon O, López-Aybar L | Harvard Review of Psychiatry