Social Health Resources

Social health includes having enough food to eat, a safe place to live and the resources you need to stay healthy. Some Oregon Health Plan members may be able to get help with their social health needs through the Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Benefit or the Flexible Services Program.

Flexible Services
Health Related Social Needs
HRSN Providers

Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Benefit provides a specific set of housing and nutrition services and supports through Oregon's 1115 Medicaid waiver.

HRSN Benefit services include:

  • Home Changes for Health During Extreme Weather (devices to keep Members safe during climate events, formerly known as Climate Supports)

  • Housing supports (help for Members to stay in their home)

  • Nutrition supports (help with meals for medical needs and keeping a healthy diet)

Flexible Services are items or services offered to an individual member to improve health. Flexible Services are different from Health Related Social Needs (HRSN) benefits. They may include things like food, housing, and devices to help you stay healthy, but they are not benefits and must not be available through any other funding source.

Flexible Services

Flexible Services may be able to pay for items or services that are not part of covered benefits. Flexible Services are also known as Health-Related Services or Flex Funds. They are not the same as Health-Related Social Needs or HRSN benefits.

Examples of Flexible Services might be:

  • Access to a warm pool to swim and exercise to help with your arthritis and improve your movement

  • A place to stay for a few days to recover from a hospital stay or surgery

  • A cell phone to keep you connected to your healthcare provider

To be approved, items or services must:

  • Not be a covered benefit under your health plan

  • Be cost-effective

  • Show a proven health benefit

  • Be part of your treatment plan or approved by your healthcare provider

  • Not be available through any other funding source

Members can request Flexible Services through their primary care team or by calling their assigned health plan:

Or call Health Share Customer Service at 503-416-8090 or toll free at 888-519-3845. For more information you can also visit OHA’s Flexible Services website.

Health Related Social Needs

To connect members to HRSN services:

For Housing Supports and Nutritional Supports

For Home Changes for Health (formerly Climate Supports)

HRSN Providers

Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) providers are organizations that provide HRSN services in a way that is culturally and linguistically appropriate, responsive and trauma-informed. All contracted HRSN providers must meet certain provider qualifications as detailed below.

In order to deliver and be reimbursed for providing HRSN services to Health Share members, organizations must have an active contract to provide HRSN services for Health Share members. For more information on becoming a HRSN provider with Health Share, please review our HRSN Service Provider Contract Requirements or please reach out to our team at socialhealth@healthshareoregon.org

Provider Qualifications
Closed Loop Referrals
Member Eligibility Criteria
Fee Schedule and Invoicing

HRSN Provider Qualifications

HRSN Provider Experience and Expertise:

Per the Oregon Administrative Rules, all HRSN service providers are expected to meet certain qualifications that ensure they are capable of providing high-quality services to qualifying members as well as have culturally specific expertise to connect with members of priority populations.

A full list of general and domain specific qualifications can be found here and include, for example:

  • Being accessible to HRSN Members, including having the operating hours and the staff necessary to meet Member need.

  • Demonstrating the ability and/or experience with effectively serving at least one of OHA’s Priority Populations (defined in ORS 413.256).

  • Providing culturally and linguistically appropriate, responsive, and trauma-informed service delivery.

  • Demonstrating a history of responsible financial administration via recent annual financial reports, an externally conducted audit, and/or other similar documentation.

Additional Requirements for Housing Services Providers:

Housing services providers must have knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures of HRSN housing services covered under the benefit, or comparable services meant to support individuals in maintaining stable housing.

Additional Requirements for Nutrition Services Providers:

Nutrition services providers must have knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures of the HRSN nutrition services covered under the benefit, or comparable services meant to support an individual in obtaining food security and meeting their nutritional needs, follow best practice guidelines and industry standards for food safety and be trained or accredited to the extent appropriate or required (or both) based on the applicable nutrition industry standard to provide the specific service.

Additional Requirements for Outreach and Engagement Providers:

HRSN outreach and engagement and benefit linkages providers must have knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures of these services or comparable services meant to outreach to and engage the populations covered under the benefit to connect Members to services to meet their needs.

Member Eligibility for HRSN Benefits Criteria: Clinical and Social Risk Factors

Members need to meet certain health, housing, and financial conditions to be eligible for HRSN benefits. These conditions are called clinical and social risk factors. Clinical and social risk factors that make a Member eligible vary by HRSN benefit support type.

A full list of qualifying clinical risk factors and descriptions of social risk factors can be found in the tables linked to OAR-410-120-2005 .

Examples of clinical risk factors include:

  • Complex behavioral health need 

  • Developmental disability need 

  • Complex physical health need 

  • Need for assistance for ADLs / iALDS or eligible for LTSS 

  • Interpersonal violence experience 

  • Adults 65 years of age or older 

  • Repeated emergency department use and crisis encounters 

  • Pregnant/postpartum 

  • Young adults with special healthcare needs

Examples of social risk factors include:

  • Requiring support to obtain or maintain connection with benefit programs, services or supports for daily needs

  • Needing financial support to maintain current housing

  • Experiencing low or very low food security

  • Requiring a device to treat, improve or stabilize a health condition

Closed Loop Referrals

HRSN Service Providers must have the ability to fulfill all obligations related to participating in a Closed Loop Referral process which allows for communication about the status of referrals for HRSN services. 

Health Share has contracted with Unite Us to provide free access to a platform known as Connect Oregon (Connect Oregon (uniteus.com) to support closed loop referral function.

The platform allows Health Share to securely send contracted HRSN Service Providers referrals to deliver HRSN benefit supports to authorized members. If you are not currently using the Connect Oregon platform and are interested in learning more, please email oregon@uniteus.com to request more information.

Any provider who does not use the Connect Oregon platform will work with Health Share to ensure they can meet closed loop referral requirements.

Fee Schedule and Invoicing

Please use the link below to view the fee schedule that lists the procedure codes and payment amounts for HRSN housing, nutrition and home changes for health supports.

Climate Device, Housing, and Nutrition Fee Schedule

Contracted providers should submit invoices via the Connect Oregon platform. If a contracted provider is not using the Connect Oregon platform, they may submit invoices to: socialhealth@healthshareoregon.org

Still have questions? Call Health Share Customer Service at: 888-519-3845 TTY/TDD: 711.