The Institute for Medicaid Innovation is pleased to provide this toolkit, which represents Phase 1 of a multipart, turnkey suite of resources to allow Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) to articulate the business case for launching, leading, or expanding initiatives focused on inequities and social determinants of health. The goal of this collective work is to equip Medicaid MCOs, state Medicaid agencies, and partners, including provider and community-based organizations (CBOs), in taking meaningful steps forward in investing
in social determinants of health to improve health equity.

With adaptable language, rationale, methods, and templates for their organizations, champions within Medicaid MCOs using this and future toolkits will have at their fingertips action-oriented tools to help move ideas forward. Leaders of community-based organizations were interviewed about their experiences working with Medicaid MCOs’ and their insights and recommendations shaped these tools. This Phase 1 toolkit centers
community and establishes the starting point of health equity-driven models through:

• tools to prepare and initiate authentic partnerships with community organizations, honoring their expertise and preferences on how to collaborate
• relationship management strategies for advancing partnerships with community organizations serving people who have Medicaid health insurance coverage and appropriate methods of meeting their stated needs.

The goal of this Phase I toolkit is to share guidance on how to build and sustain trusted relationships between Medicaid MCOs and CBOs as building blocks to address the social determinants of health, further the goals of whole-person care, and improve health and well-being.