Adopting a Community Resource and Referral Platform: Considerations for Texas Medicaid Stakeholders

Medicaid programs across the country are working to address the non-medical drivers of health (DOH) and improve outcomes for their members; however, coordination of medical and non-medical services can be challenging. Community resource and referral platforms can support this type of coordination by supporting screening, providing a directory of non-medical services, and facilitating the referral process. Regional projects in Texas that aim to develop Community Information Exchanges (CIE) or CIE-like structures are incorporating community resource and referral platforms to share data across multiple platforms. These projects are in their early stages but show promise to improve care coordination and data usability. This brief shares experiences from Medicaid stakeholders in Texas on using community resource and referral platforms to identify and address non-medical DOH. While geared to a Texas audience, lessons herein can inform activities in other states to better address non-medical needs of Medicaid populations.