The healthcare field has been in the midst of a debate around how—and if—health systems should be investing in the social drivers of health. United Health Group has been one of the largest—if not the largest—proponents of doing just that, including its significant investments in affordable housing, which have now surpassed $1 billion. It is in that spirit that United made an investment five years ago with Maycomb Capital’s Community Outcomes work, an outcomes financing investment strategy.

At the same time, government—local, state, and federal—has increasingly recognized the importance of paying for outcomes in the health equity realm. Just this past January, the National Institutes of Health launched a new initiative called the Health Care Rewards to Achieve Improved Outcomes initiative, a $99 million effort to pay for improved health outcomes. This session features the architect of that program, who can speak to the critical role that government plays in this work and the power of public-private-partnerships. Together, these partnerships are implementing a radically different approach to preventative care as incentives to drive change for communities in need across our country.