As many of us come together this month to share food with family and friends, we are grateful that SNAP benefits have been reinstated following the longest government shutdown in American history. Both Food is Medicine initiatives and food and nutrition assistance programs provide supports critical for a healthier population. So it’s important for the nation’s health to highlight that despite SNAP funding reinstatement, under the GOP’s signature tax and spending law, millions of individuals are at risk of permanently losing food benefits. The new law imposes stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients, similar to those for Medicaid, and will soon require states to share the cost of SNAP benefits, potentially leading to further program cuts. During these challenging times, please consider helping your neighbors by taking action, e.g., writing to Congress or supporting local food banks. 

Registration open for Upcoming December 3rd SIREN Webinar: To screen or not to screen, that is (an important) question

Please join us on December 3, 9-10am PT/12-1pm ET for our Shakespeare-inspired webinar, “To screen or not to screen, that is (an important) question”. Drs. Jen Makelarski (UChicago) and Danielle Cullen (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) will each share their recent research on universal intervention models in pediatrics settings. The presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion, with SIREN co-Director Dr. Laura Gottlieb, the presenters, and Dr. Sarah DeSilvey from the Gravity Project.

Webinars

Medicaid Food Security Network: MFSN Quarterly Convening – November 21, 2025 | 11:30am PT/2:30pm ET

Health Outreach Partners: Access to Transportation: Strategies and Solutions for Improving Care - Community Of Practice – November 25, 2025

Systems for Action: Integrating Health and Social Services through a Novel Independent Practice Association – December 10, 2025 | 9am PT/12pm ET

SIREN: To Screen or Not to Screen, That is (An Important) Question – December 3, 2025 | 9am PT/12pm ET

HealthBegins: Rest, Resistance, and Hope: Reflections on 2025 – December 11, 2025 | 10am PT/1pm ET

Meetings & Conferences

NAPCRG (North American Primary Care Research Group) 53rd Annual Meeting  – November 21-25, 2025 | Atlanta GA 

⭐ Patient Advocate Foundation: Holding the Line: Defending Equity in Health Care – Originally broadcast November 12, 2025
We especially encourage you to watch the powerful keynote address delivered by Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA, "Toward Justice: Indigenous Equity in Action"   

SIREN: Engaging Communities in Social Care Research: Learnings from SIREN’s Social Care Engagement Grantees – Originally broadcast October 21, 2025 

HealthBegins: Strategies to Sustain Health Equity Investments Against Headwinds – Originally broadcast November 13, 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 / Screening

Using Factor Analysis to Streamline Social Screening for the Emergency Department Meeker MA, Bongiorno DM, Cullen D, Schiavoni KH, Samuels-Kalow M | Academic Emergency Medicine

Social Determinants of Health Screening Tool: Systematic Review and Delphi Study Parry E, Wilkie R, Warren K | BJGP Open

Digital Health Technologies for Screening and Identifying Unmet Social Needs: Scoping Review Sezgin E, Jackson DI, Boch S, et al. | Journal of Medical Internet Research

Assistance

Implementation of Social Needs Screening and Intervention in Primary Care: A Systematic Review of Program-Level Determinants Chang E, Guzman I, Glowacki N, Khatib R | Annals of Internal Medicine Also see related commentary: Mind the Gaps: The Missing Links in Social Needs Screening Shaheen A

Optimizing the Community Resource Specialist to Address Social Needs in Primary Care: Results from a Pragmatic Quality Improvement Evaluation Lewis CC, Pullmann MD, Hsu C, et al. | BMC Primary Care

Providing Transportation Services to Address Health and Social Needs: Kaizen Health and Iowa Medicaid Managed Care Organizations Brykman K | Center for Health Care Strategies

Food Insecurity Interventions

Food Is Medicine is Complementary with SNAP & WIC: A Brief on Comprehensive Nutrition Supports for Medicaid Enrollees Bank A, Jantz K, Xie J, Rees E, Scott K | Medicaid Food Security Network

Healthy Food Voucher Programs: Global Evidence on Structure, Implementation, and Nutrition-Related Outcomes Lara-Arevalo J, Corvalan C, Pemjean I, Montes de Oca D, Ng SW, Taillie LS | Advances in Nutrition

Screening and Addressing Food Insecurity at Free Clinics: A Scoping Review Ramanathan G, Zak W,  Munjwani D, Fisher R, Sarino EM, Scourboutakos MJ | Discover Public Health

Perinatal and Pediatric Interventions

Caregiver, Healthcare, and WIC Staff Needs for Promoting WIC Enrollment in Primary Care Stough CO, Smith JL, Buchanan B, et al. | Academic Pediatrics

Automating WIC Screening and Enrollment in Pediatric Primary Care Suarez L, Avery C, Montez K, Cholera R | The New England Journal of Medicine

Hardship and Hope: The Relationship Between Unconditional Prenatal and Infant Cash Transfers, Economic Stability, and Maternal Mental Health and Well-Being Hanna M, Shaefer HL, Finegood E, Agarwal S, Zamani-Hank Y, LaChance J | American Journal of Public Health

⭐ Relative to comparisons, mothers exposed to Rx Kids saw improvements in hardship, mental health, and well-being—notably, a 4.2-percentage-point reduction in the risk of eviction (P < .05) and a 14.0-percentage-point reduction in screening positive for postpartum depression (P < .05). Program exposure was associated with increased trust in institutions and feeling loved, hopeful, respected, and valued.

Unconditional Cash Transfers for Medicaid Eligible Parents of Preterm Infants: A Qualitative Study within a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Salazar EG, Bouchelle ZM, Nelin TD, Radack JK, Duncan AF | Academic Pediatrics

Strengthening Perinatal Services Through Social Care: Outcomes of a Quality Improvement Initiative for a Health Center-Based Perinatal Care Program Emery Tavernier RL, Rogers P, Shenkman M, et al. | Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health

Evaluating the Impact of a Pediatric Clinic-Based Food Pantry: A Qualitative Study Mass J, Anselin E | Clinical Pediatrics

Cultural and/or Linguistic Tailoring of Interventions

Community Health Worker Support for Hispanic and Latino Individuals Receiving Hemodialysis: The Navigate-Kidney Randomized Clinical Trial Cervantes L, Juarez-Colunga E, Powe NR, et al. | JAMA Internal Medicine

⭐  In this randomized clinical trial that included 139 patients at 5 dialysis centers in Denver, Colorado, from 2020 to 2022, a CHW intervention modestly reduced fluid accumulation between dialysis sessions compared to standard care. The intervention also led to fewer shortened dialysis sessions and greater improvement in patient activation.

Participant Experiences in a Kidney Failure Care Intervention in the Navigate-Kidney Study Rizzolo K, Ressalam J, Robledo K, et al. | JAMA Network Open

A Culturally and Linguistically Tailored Intervention to Improve Diabetes-Related Outcomes in Chinese Americans with Type 2 Diabetes: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Liu J, Cao J, Shi Y, et al. | JMIR mHealth and uHealth

Evaluation of Language Accessibility of Community Resources to Address Pediatric Social Needs in Two Large U.S. Cities Patel K, Vazquez B, Wingfield E, et al.| Academic Pediatrics

Payment policy

Experiences of Maryland Primary Care Practices in Addressing Social Needs Through a Novel Value-Based Payment Gruber E, Grisham R, Arem H, et al. | Health Services Research 

Commentaries and Blogs

How Should Clinical Teams Integrate Findings from Social Needs Screenings into Children's Care Plans? Menko SG, Luke MJ, Vasan A | AMA Journal of Ethics

Integrated Clinical-Social Care and Boundaries of Health Care Guilamo-Ramos V, Thimm-Kaiser M, Benzekri A, Kinsley KH |JAMA Health Forum

MAHA’s Low-Hanging Fruit: Enabling Health Systems to Deploy Food as Medicine Landauer R, Falcone AJ | Health Affairs Forefront

Manifestations of Structural Racism and Inequities in Cardiovascular Health Across US Neighborhoods Lawrence WR, Hong HG, & Williams F | JAMA Health Forum

Scientists Had to Change More Than 700 Grant Titles to Receive NIH Funding. Health Disparities Researchers Fear What’s Next Oza A | STAT+