Opportunity comment on CMS’ proposed changes to the Physician Fee Schedule

Changes in CMS policy related to social care integration are happening quickly. Many of you in the SIREN community are likely aware that CMS has removed the inpatient quality reporting (IQR) measures related to social risk assessment and positive screen rates. Today we’re sharing a new opportunity to provide input on additional CMS reforms: CMS has invited comments on the CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule rule, in which they are proposing significant coding and payment changes related to social risk assessments as well as to community health integration and other services to address health related social needs. With great appreciation for the folks over at the Partnership to Align Social Care, SIREN is gearing up to send constructive input on the proposed changes. You can learn more about both the proposed policy changes and the request for input in recent PASC webinars. Individuals and organizations can also plan to sign on to the PASC comments when they are available. And if you’re writing a new comment, you can find tips for writing an effective public comment on federal regulation here. Comments are due here by September 12, 2025.

SIREN is seeking your input!

We are considering launching an individual membership program that would enable individuals to support SIREN’s work, including on content like the SIREN Screening Tool Table and the Evidence and Resource Library, as well as the SIREN newsletter, webinars, and podcasts. Members would be asked to contribute a modest annual fee and would receive select member-only benefits on top of the current SIREN resources, which would continue to be freely available. Please let us know what you think of this idea by responding to this survey by next Monday August 25th at 11:59pm PST and we will enter you into a drawing for one of ten $10 Starbucks gift cards.

SIREN Webinars Returning Fall 2025: Registration Now Open

September 10th: Engaging Communities and Patient Voices in Social Care Research: Insights from SIREN and HERN

Please join us on Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 9am PT/12pm ET, for a special methods webinar with our colleagues from the Health Experiences Research Network (HERN), a non-profit research group that seeks to bring patient voices to American health care by leveraging the Database of Individual Patients' Experiences (DIPEx) methodology to lift up and disseminate patient stories. Join us to hear HERN colleagues describe this powerful methodology for centering patient experiences and the impact this can have in our work moving forward.

October 21st: Engaging Communities in Social Care Research: Learnings from SIREN’s Social Care Engagement Grantees

Join us on October 21st from 10-11:30am PT/ 1-2:30pm ET as we explore the transformative impact of the SIREN Engagement Grantees' projects. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, these research-community partnerships worked over the past two years to strengthen community engagement and amplify the voices of those with lived experiences in social care research. Dive into discussions with the grantee teams and discover how these efforts are advancing community-partnered social care research across diverse populations and settings in the United States.

Evidence for Action’s Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research
You may be eligible to apply if your racial and/or Indigenous health research was interrupted due to federal funding shifts. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2025 by 12pm PT/ 3pm ET. Learn more and apply here.

Webinars

Systems for Action: Equity in Action: Navigating New Landscapes in Health Equity Research – August 27, 2025 | 9am PT/12pm ET

Evidence for Action: New Round of Rapid Response Research Funding Opportunity Applicant Webinar  – August 27, 2025 | 11am PT/2pm ET

Systems for Action: Systems in Focus Panel | Food as Medicine – September 10, 2025 | 9am PT/12pm ET

Meetings & Conferences

Civitas Annual Conference – September 28-30, 2025 | Anaheim, CA

Camden Coalition: Putting Care At the Center Annual Conference – October 15-17, 2025 | Portland, OR

2025 PCORI Annual Meeting – October 21-22, 2025 | Washington, D.C.
Registration is now open. More details here.

NAMD Fall 2025 Conference – November 19-21, 2025 | National Harbor, MD | Registration is open.

NAPCRG 53rd Annual Meeting  – November 21-25, 2025 | Atlanta GA | Registration is open.

Camden Coalition: Making the Case for Advancing Health: Lessons From Two Medical-Legal Partnership Evaluations – Originally broadcast July 24, 2025

Partnership to Align Social Care: Opportunities to Inform Medicare Payment Policies to Address Upstream Drivers of Health – Originally broadcast August 6, 2025

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.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Awareness 

Centering Diné (Navajo) Voices: Barriers, Facilitators, and Perceptions of Cardiac Care Among Patients with Heart Failure in Rural Navajo Nation Eberly LA, Tennison A, Morgan L, et al. | Circulation

Drivers of Patient Experiences with Healthcare-Based Social Care Potharaju K, Gottlieb LM, Wing HE, et al. | Health Services Research

Food insecurity Questionnaire on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices for Perinatal Care Professionals Buccini G, Schoetker A, Poblacion A, et al. | PLoS One

Social Determinants of Health Screening and Remote Intervention for a Pediatric Emergency Department: Reaching Rural Families Bernardin ME, Zoellner D, Eichman D, et al. | Family & Community Health

Integrating a Risk Prediction Score in a Clinical Decision Support to Identify Patients with Health-related Social Needs in the Emergency Department Mazurenko O, Harle CA, Musey PI Jr, Schleyer TK, Sanner LM, Vest JR | JAMIA Open

Measurement Bias in Documentation of Social Risk Among Medicare Beneficiaries Chatterjee P, Macneal E, Roberts ET | JAMA Health Forum

An Evaluation of Orthopaedic Nurse Preparedness to Address the 2024 CMS and Joint Commission SDOH Requirements Darby F, Rancu A, Nishime N, Kurek D, Wiznia D | Orthopedic Nursing

Assistance

Geographic Variation in Medicare Advantage Nonemergency Medical Transportation Benefits 2020-2024 Lu CA, He L, Hong AS, Mullins MA, Liao JM, Jiang C | Health Affairs Scholar

Identifying Unmet Needs of Families with Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs in a Preparedness Intervention Connected to the Medical Home Bubarth B, Griffin J, Berhane Z, Turchi RM | Child: Care, Health and Development

Public Understanding of and Engagement with Community Health Workers and Promotores de Salud: Findings from Two National Surveys Rohan EA, Townsend JS, Torres A, et al. | Preventing Chronic Disease

Is Gaining Housing Associated With Higher Rates of Cancer Screening Among US Veterans Experiencing Homelessness? Decker H, Graham L, Titan A, et al. | Annals of Family Medicine

Piloting a Housing Support Navigator Program at a Safety Net Hospital Kim K, Adhyaru BB | Southern Medical Journal

Food interventions

Impact of Food Insecurity Resource Navigation for Primary Care Patients with Diabetes and Hypertension: A Matched Cohort Study Gupta D, Thomas D, Self S, et al. | Journal of General Internal Medicine

Applications of Human-Centered Design to Food Is Medicine Interventions: The THRIVE Pilot Trial Adeleye K, McDaniel K, Iribe I, et al. | Journal of the American Heart Association

Exploring a Food Is Medicine Pilot Program to Improve Dietary Quality Among Rural Perinatal Patients Allen SE, Bielaski T, Canavan CR | BMC Nutrition

Fresh Food Rx: Evaluating the Impact of a Produce Prescription Program on Engagement and Well-being Using the RE-AIM Framework Zimmer R, Strahley A, Shenberger D, et al. | Journal of General Internal Medicine

Pediatric Produce Prescription Program Grounded in Community Connection Improves Fruit Intake in Hawaiʻi Esquivel M, Shelton C, Higa A, Jun Ahn H, Okhiro M | AJPM Focus

Addressing Food Insecurity Among U.S. Refugees, Considering the Temporal Patterns of Food Insecurity after Resettlement: Qualitative Insights from Utah Sharareh N, Dalrymple R, Kambouris KN, et al. | PLoS One

Alignment

Multisector Collaborations at Children's Hospitals in the United States to Address Social Drivers of Health Shaikh U, Gosdin M, Helmke E | International Journal for Quality in Health Care

Policy Report

Measuring and Addressing Health-Related Social Needs in Cancer Hood V, Schatz A, Biru Y, Erhunmwunsee L, Denlinger CS | Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network