Join SIREN at the Camden Coalition’s Putting Care at the Center Conference

SIREN is excited to partner on the Research and Evaluation track of the Camden Coalition’s Putting Care at the Center Conference October 14-16, 2026 in Oakland, CA. The Research and Evaluation track explores how organizations are using evidence, measurement, AI, and quality improvement while keeping equity and transparency at the center of their work. Registration is open through October 7, 2026.

Webinars

Systems for Action: Aligning Systems, Advancing Health Equity – September 29, 2026 | 9am PT/12pm ET.
Learn more about studies included in the RWJF S4A-sponsored American Journal of Public Health supplement, all focused on how cross-sector collaboration leads to better outcomes.

Systems for Action: Systems Alignment to Optimize Health Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness – September 30, 2026 | 9am PT/12pm ET. Researchers will share their work examining the feasibility of an integrated medical, social, and public health system to improve outcomes for youth experiencing homelessness in Minnesota.

Systems for Action: An Aligned Delivery and Financing Model to Address Food Insecurity and Social Needs of Low-Income Pregnant Women – October 7, 2026 | 9am PT/12pm ET.
Researchers will share recent findings from a study examining the impact of delivering medically tailored groceries to low-income pregnant individuals. In this innovative program, grocery delivery is facilitated by a community health worker who also helps participants address broader social needs.

Meetings & Conferences

Camden Coalition: Putting Care at the Center 2026 – October 14-16, 2026 | Oakland, CA | Registration ends October 7, 2026.

North American Primary Care Research Group Annual Meeting: 54th Annual Meeting – November 24-26, 2025 | Toronto, Canada.
NAPCRG is a global, multidisciplinary organization for researchers, clinicians, educators, and patients focused on primary care and family medicine.

Systems for Action: Research to Understand Systemic Racism as a Barrier and Engagement with Child Mental Health Services – Originally broadcast July 29, 2026

Systems for Action: Using Global Budgets and Multi-Sector Teams to Align Systems in Vermont – Originally broadcast August 12, 2026

*SIREN Research* Systems for Action: Housing as Healthcare: Homeless-serving Organizations’ Perspectives on Becoming Medicaid Providers – Originally broadcast August 26, 2026

The Intersection: Health Over Profit: Countering the "Financialization" of Healthcare – Originally broadcast September 15, 2026

Below, we highlight multiple SIREN-relevant articles published since the last newsletter. For a comprehensive list of articles, 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.

September Research Highlights

An Indigenous Food Is Medicine Intervention: The MUTTON-HF Randomized Clinical Trial Eberly LA, George C, Sandman S, et al. | JAMA Internal Medicine

This RCT of 206 primarily American Indian patients with heart failure compared a culturally and medically tailored meal program with usual dietary advice over 8 weeks. The meal program intervention significantly reduced all-cause hospitalizations and emergency department visits. Intervention patients also demonstrated improved food security.

Housing First and Health: What the Evidence Says Robinson L, Moon K, Linton SL, Pollack EC | Health Affairs

Housing First interventions consistently improve housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness, but findings on health improvements remain mixed, raising questions about whether inconclusive results reflect implementation challenges and research design differences or true mixed effects.

Elevating this social care pilot study in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month

Food for Cancer Health: The Impact of a Culturally Tailored Food Voucher Intervention on Food Insecurity and Quality of Life Among Latino/a/e/x Patients with Cancer Hanna MT, Wood EH, Guzman LL, et al. | Supportive Care in Cancer

This pilot study included 30 low income, primarily Latino adults with cancer and food insecurity who received six monthly $40 gift cards redeemable at local food retailers + community health worker support for health-related social needs. Among participants, food insecurity decreased significantly and health-related quality of life improved. All participants adhered to their cancer treatment care plans throughout the project period.

Centering Multilingual Patient Voices in the Co-Design of a Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool in an Urban Safety-Net Hospital Khemraj UD, Solomon P, Eddy R, et al. | Journal of General Internal Medicine

Addressing Unmet Needs in the Management of Chronic Kidney Disease Rosas SE, Busch R, Raj DS | International Journal of General Medicine

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Identifying Social Determinants of Health in Low-Income Populations Within United States Health Systems: A Scoping Review Razzano AV | Health Science Reports

Changes in Documentation of Social Risk Factor Diagnosis Codes: Comparison of Medicaid Accountable Care Organization Model Types Nguyen KH, Lim K, Thompson K, Gordon SH, Ncube CN, McCloskey L, et al. | Health Affairs Scholar

Medicare Advantage and Type 2 Diabetes Outcomes Berkowitz SA, LaPoint M, Kuhn ML, et al. | JAMA Internal Medicine

Epidemiology of Health-Related Social Needs Screening and Positivity in a Multistate Health System Patel BP, Bayes B, Madden V, Lu Y, Dircksen J, Suleiman Z, et al. | JAMA Network Open
See the accompanying commentary by Onakomaiya & Adhikari here

Addressing Social and Cultural Needs with Lean Management in a National Sample of US Physician Practices Hung DY, Levy LC, Schifferdecker KE, Zerboni DE, Shortell SM | The Milbank Quarterly

Food Is Medicine Interventions to Improve Health Berkowitz SA, Seligman HK, Volpp KG | Annual Review of Medicine

Health Advocates to Address Social Adversity in Pediatric Liver Transplantation: A Clinical Trial Wadhwani SI, Reyna B, Huerta A, et al. | Hepatology Communications

Implementing Social Risk Screening Across a Pediatric Liver Transplant Learning Health Network: Lessons From the Starzl Network for Excellence in Pediatric Transplantation Jutras G, Huerta A, Bisarya C, et al. | Medical Care

Implementing a Social Needs Screening and Intervention Program at a Pediatric Diabetes Center Relan S, DeWit E, Evans K, et al. | Quality Management in Health Care

Health System Responses to Homelessness in the United States: Prevalence and Predictors Dewald A, Unwala N, Creedon TB, Singer PM, Willison CE | Health Affairs Scholar

Advancing Pediatric Social Care: A Review of the Evidence and Roadmap for Research, Practice, and Policy Cullen D, Garg A | Academic Pediatrics

Health System-Community Partnerships in a Medicaid Nutrition and Housing Program, 2020-2023: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation McCurley JL, Fung V, Levy DE, et al. | Health Affairs Scholar

Postpartum Implications of Screening for Social Determinants of Health at the Time of Delivery Truong N, Feffer M, Sprawka N, Alrahmani L, Lal A | Maternal and Child Health Journal

How Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations Advance Maternal Health Care Quality: Drivers of Change and Challenges From the Perspective of ACO Leaders, Clinicians, and Care Coordinators Ogden SN, Loo S, Cole MB, et al. | The Milbank Quarterly

Structural Readiness of CBOs to Address Health-Related Social Needs in Chronic Disease Management Programs D'Apolito G, Verdecias-Pellum N | BMC Health Services Research

System-Level Barriers to Breast Cancer Screening Completion in Community-Based Navigation: Lessons From a Quality Improvement Initiative Carter-Bawa L, Lucca-Susana M, Orr E, Jamal S, Shoulders EN | BMJ Open Quality

The Benefit of Social Needs Programs: Hospital Reports of Associated Population Health Management Outcomes Opoku ST, Apenteng BA, Akowuah E, Anokye-Mensah S, Puobebe C, Poku B | Population Health Management

Referrals for Food Assistance at Health Resources and Services Administration Health Centers Rohatgi KW, Fernandez A, Seligman HK | JAMA Network Open

Commentaries and blogs

Billing Medicaid for Community Health Worker Services: The Promise, Pitfalls, and Path Forward Sanders MR, Fiscella K | Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine