Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards $10 Million to Community-Based Housing and Nutrition Organizations

BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced today it is awarding $10 million to 37 community-based organizations that provide housing and nutrition support services across the state. 

The funds are intended to help awardees expand and enhance technology and operations to work effectively with MassHealth Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in order to provide health-related social needs (HRSN) services, such as housing and healthy food, to members as part of their overall health care. ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers that coordinate high-quality care for MassHealth members.

“This funding will help ensure a smooth transition as MassHealth integrates coverage of health-related social needs, like food and housing, into managed care,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Without a safe place to sleep or healthy food to eat, it is nearly impossible to stay healthy or manage health conditions. This important transition furthers MassHealth’s commitment to ensuring members’ basic needs are met, so that they can care for their physical and mental health.”

“Healthy food and living environments lead to healthy individuals and families,” said Lieutenant Governor Kimberley Driscoll. “This transition is another way in which Massachusetts continues to lead the nation in delivering high-quality, equitable health care.”

Research shows that HRSNs, and other factors outside of a doctor’s office, determine up to 80% of a person’s health outcomes. According to a comprehensive review of evidence for HRSN interventions by the Commonwealth Fund, providing these services can lead to reductions in health care utilization and cost of health care.  

The funding comes as MassHealth makes a major shift in its approach to offering HRSN services for eligible members. As of January 1, 2025, MassHealth transitioned from a grant-based pilot HRSN program where ACOs chose which members could receive services to an approach where any eligible member must be offered the services their ACOs provide. MassHealth ACOs are required to offer at least one housing service and one nutrition service for eligible members and have contracted with housing and nutrition organizations as HRSN providers to deliver these new services.  

“We know that the conditions in which people are born and live have a huge impact on people’s health and contribute to health inequities,” said Undersecretary for Health Kiame Mahaniah. “That’s why I am so encouraged to see MassHealth tackle the issue head-on with a strategy for covering these services for members who need them.”

“Improving health outcomes for our diverse members and promoting equitable health is central to our mission at MassHealth,” said Assistant Secretary for MassHealth Mike Levine. “We are thrilled to take the lessons learned from our 2020 pilot program and transition towards a future where critical housing and nutrition services are provided as part of a suite of coordinated health care services.” 

“Boston Medical Center Health System and WellSense Health Plan have long been committed to identifying and addressing health-related social needs for members and patients,” said Christine Pace, MD, the Executive Medical Director of Population Health at Boston Medical Center Health System. “The new Health Related Social Needs services allow the providers and care teams that work with our eight ACOs across the state to connect patients with community-based social service organizations that provide housing and nutritional resources. Given the importance of these supports in improving our members’ health outcomes and enabling them to thrive, we look forward to working with MassHealth in this innovative new phase of social services investment and programming.”

“We are thrilled to have been awarded support from the HRSN Integration Fund," said Joshua Faller Program Director at Just Roots. "This resource will allow Just Roots to both adapt to new program requirements and expand our efforts to bring fresh, healthy, and locally grown food to MassHealth patients across the Commonwealth. By strengthening access to nutritious food, we are not only improving health outcomes but also investing in an equitable and resilient food system that benefits us all.”

For some community-based organizations with expertise in housing and nutrition, becoming Medicaid providers requires a foundational shift in business operations and technological capacity. To support this transition, MassHealth is recommending entering into grant agreements with 37 organizations across the state with funds to help organizations successfully operate as and in the future become HRSN Providers: 

• About Fresh, Inc. (Boston)
• Action For Boston Community Development, Inc. (Boston)
• AgeSpan, Inc. (Lawrence)
• Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (Boston)
• Boston Medical Center (Boston)
• Center for Human Development Inc. (Springfield)
• Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, Inc. (Worcester)
• Commonwealth Land Trust, Inc. (Boston)
• Community Care Cooperative, Inc. (Boston)
• Community Counseling of Bristol County, Inc. (Taunton)
• Community Servings, Inc. (Boston)
• Community Teamwork, Inc. (Lowell)
• Elder Services of Worcester Area, Inc. (Worcester)
• Eliot Community Human services, Inc. (Lexington)
• FamilyAid Boston, Inc. (Boston) 
• Greater Lynn Senior Services, Inc. (Lynn)
• Growing Places Garden Project, Inc. (Leominster)
• Housing Families, Inc. (Malden)
• Just Roots, Inc. (Greenfield)
• Justice For Housing, Inc. (Boston)
• Lynn Shelter Association, Inc. (Lynn)
• Maverick Landing Community Services, Inc. (Boston)
• Mill City Grows, Inc. (Lowell)
• NeighborWorks Housing Solutions (Quincy)
• Old Colony YMCA Wellness Services, Inc. (Brockton)
• Open Sky Community Services, Inc. (Worcester)
• Project Bread– The Walk for Hunger, Inc. (Boston)
• Revitalize Community Development Corporation (Springfield)
• South Middlesex Opportunity Council, Inc. (Framingham)
• Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts, Inc. (Worcester)
• The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Inc. (Chicopee)
• The Greater Boston Food Bank, Inc. (Boston)
• The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless (Lynn)
• The Young Men's Christian Association of Attleboro & Norton (Attleboro)
• Urban Guild, Inc. (Boston)
• Veterans Inc. (Worcester)
• Way Finders, Inc. (Springfield)

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