Humana Foundation Allots $7.6M to Social Determinants of Health

The Humana Foundation announced it is investing $7.6 million in eight communities across the southeastern United States to address social determinants of health (SDOH), according to a recent press release.

The most recent investment is part of the philanthropic organization’s Strategic Community Investment program, which aims to address some of the most common social determinants of health, including post-secondary attainment and sustaining employment, social connectedness, financial asset security, and food security.

As part of its ongoing program, the foundation recently engaged in two new investments in New Orleans totaling $1 million. The investments will address financial asset security, post-secondary attainment and sustaining employment and food security. Additionally, the Humana Foundation will continue its existing investments with ten organizations in seven other communities, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

“Our Strategic Community Investments holistically address social determinants of health at the systems- and community-level,” Walter D. Woods, CEO of The Humana Foundation, said in the press release. “We believe this approach will positively impact health outcomes in our target communities which our first-year results confirm. Consequently, we are creating new investments in New Orleans and continuing our investments in other locations.”

Payers must address social determinants of health before they contribute to long-term negative outcomes. In 2011, the National Institutes of Health that nearly one-third of all patient deaths could be directly attributed to social determinants. 

“If you look at the data that’s out there, 10-20 percent of a person’s overall health outcomes is directly related to healthcare,” Lynn Ostrowski, executive director of Aetna Foundation, said in a HealthPayerIntelligence interview. 

Working alongside community leaders, payers can effectively address social determinants such as employment access, transportation, and preventative services in various communities. Once improved, payers will begin to notice utilization rates for direct healthcare.

Payers like Humana are also able to successfully tackle social determinants by offering grants and donations to community-level programs, which address the most vital social health determinants.

Leaders in payer philanthropy stress the importance of community alignment to ensure payers are financing appropriate programs. The organizations need to ensure funding creates the most effective social determinants improvements.

The Humana Foundation is taking this route through its Strategic Community Investment Program, which started with a $7.4 million investment in seven communities and funded programs that served more than 16,000 individuals and their families, addressing one or more social determinant of health. 

Under the current initiative, the philanthropic organization is targeting financial security in New Orleans.

The organization awarded Kingsley House $416,480 for its Career Pathway program, an employment program focused on helping families out of poverty by creating financial security. In collaboration with DePaul Community Health Centers and Crescent City Family Services, Kingsley House will help families access community resources. 

In order to address financial asset security, post-secondary attainment, and sustaining employment, and food security in New Orleans, Growing Local Food Collaborative also received $613,620 from the Humana Foundation. Through local partnerships, the program will bring fresh food into food deserts, create new markets, train local farmers, and provide training and employment pipelines for youth in the local economy. 

The core goal for Humana and The Humana Foundation is helping to improve individuals’ health 20 percent by 2020 and beyond.