Study Data from University of Minnesota Update Knowledge of Public Health (The Effects of Financial Structures To Increase Social Drivers of Health Investments In Medicaid: a Simulation Approach): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2026 AUG 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Public Health have been published. According to news reporting originating from Minneapolis, Minnesota, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To explore and quantify the potential effects of financial innovations aimed at increasing investments in social drivers of health (SDH). We built a simulation model in which individuals in a health care market are served by multiple Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs).”

Financial support for this research came from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Minnesota, “In our model, each MCO can spend money to make SDH investments that improve patient health and reduce costs to the MCO, but patients can switch between different MCOs. While SDH investments improve patient health and increase the profitability of the investing MCO, the benefits also accrue to noninvesting MCOs because of the churn of patients between MCOs, resulting in a ‘wrong-pocket problem’ where investing MCOs bear the costs but share the benefits with competitors, resulting in worse financial returns compared with making no investments and ultimately disincentivizing SDH investments. Outcomes can be improved when all MCOs participate in a financial structure-an SDH bond-which raises money from investors and distributes the proceeds to MCOs to make SDH investments.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “An SDH bond can improve patient health and increase profits for MCOs because of cost-savings.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Effects of Financial Structures To Increase Social Drivers of Health Investments In Medicaid: a Simulation Approach. American Journal of Public Health, 2026;116. American Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Amer Public Health Assoc Inc, 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3710, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Richard T. Thakor, University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, Dept. of Finance, Minneapolis, MN, United States. Additional authors for this research include Francis Haoyu Fang and Pinar Karaca-Mandic.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308479. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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