Category: Health, Mental Health & Recovery
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Language Access Is a Professional Responsibility, Not an Optional Service
A social service agency cannot meaningfully claim that a person participated in an assessment, consented to treatment, or declined assistance unless it has established that the exchange was understood. Language access is therefore part of professional competence and institutional accountability. It determines whether people can describe their circumstances, evaluate choices, and exercise authority over decisions…
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Discharge Is Not the End of Responsibility: Social Work and the Transition Home
A hospital discharge is an administrative event with consequences that extend well beyond the hospital. A person may leave with an appropriate treatment plan and still lack the transportation, housing, food, or practical assistance necessary to carry it out. For social work, the transition home therefore raises a fundamental professional question: has the institution merely…
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Professional or Personal Identity Cannot Exempt a Social Worker from Accountability
The authority entrusted to a social worker exists for the benefit of the client. Neither clinical expertise, institutional standing, nor membership in a marginalized community can justify using that authority for sexual access. The profession must be capable of stating this principle without qualification and applying it when allegations concern someone whose identity or public…
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Medicaid Parity Failures Show Why Social Workers Must Audit the Door to Behavioral Health Care
Three new federal audits have exposed a familiar contradiction in Medicaid managed care: a benefit may exist on paper, yet an authorization system makes it difficult to access. Reviews by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that South Carolina, Arizona, and New York did not adequately ensure that…
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Medicare’s Expanded Digital Care Model Still Needs Social Workers at the Human End
Medicare is expanding its ACCESS Model in spring 2027 to cover heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, substance use disorders, nicotine dependence, and additional mobility conditions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services describes virtual care, health coaching, remote monitoring, connected devices, and payment tied to measurable health outcomes. Social work should welcome useful tools…
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Unauthorized Marketplace Enrollments Need a Consumer Repair System, Not Only a Fraud Crackdown
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on September 22 that it was canceling approximately 315,000 unauthorized Marketplace enrollments covering more than 760,000 people. CMS estimates that the action will return about $2.2 billion in federal subsidies. Those numbers show the scale of the integrity problem. They also describe hundreds of thousands of people…
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Medicaid Work Rules Will Turn Documentation Into a Health Access Issue
A federal Medicaid community engagement requirement is approaching, and social workers should treat it as a health access issue rather than a simple employment policy. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says states generally must implement the requirement by January 1, 2027. In the affected eligibility groups, continued coverage may depend on whether a…
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Medicare Will Pay for Care Coordination. Social Work Agencies Should Build the Workflow Before October 1
Medicare has created a specific payment for care coordination in the ACCESS Model, and clinical social workers should pay close attention. Licensed clinical social workers who are enrolled in Medicare Part B have been eligible to bill the ACCESS Co Management Payment since July 5, 2026. Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics become…
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A Missed Ride Is a Service Barrier: Transportation Belongs in Social Work Practice
An appointment is not accessible simply because a provider has agreed to see someone. A person also needs a workable way to get there and return home. Social work agencies should treat that journey as part of service access, especially when their own records describe a missed visit without explaining whether the person could reach…
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A Record Median Income Does Not Mean the Safety Net Can Be Weakened
The United States reached a record real median household income of $87,460 in 2025, according to data released by the Census Bureau on September 15, 2026. The official poverty rate also fell to 10.2 percent. These are important gains. They do not show that economic insecurity has disappeared or that public benefits have become unnecessary.…