Center for Social Impact

Social and economic conditions such as housing, food security, employment, and education can account for as much as 80 percent of health outcomes and are increasingly being recognized as an important driver of health care costs (Magnan, 2017). In support of our mission to provide members with the right care, in the right way, at the right time, UPMC Insurance Services Division, in collaboration with the UPMC Center for High-Value Health Care, launched the UPMC Center for Social Impact in December 2019. The UPMC Center for Social Impact strives to:
  • Establish a social impact strategy.
  • Document and report contributions and outcomes from across UPMC Insurance Services that impact SDOH.
  • Coordinate SDOH programming across UPMC Insurance Services.
  • Develop and incubate pilot programming.
  • Support the evaluation and dissemination of results impacting the social needs of our members.
Since its founding, the Center for Social Impact has become a driving force behind collaborations and programming that simultaneously serve our community by addressing social needs and leverage UPMC’s integrated delivery and finance system (IDFS) toward shaping a more equitable health care system. To learn more, see the UPMC Health Plan Social Impact Report.
Email our team directly at socialimpact@upmc.edu to explore opportunities to collaborate with us.

Recent News

Pathways to Work

Pathways to Work paves the way to new futures. To learn more, see Life Changing Is...

Life Changing Is... Pathways to Work Member Site

Preserving Housing Affordability in Pittsburgh

UPMC for You has invested $3M of a total $9.7M in the fund. This investment has supported the creation or preservation of 552 apartments, 352 of which are affordable at or below 80% Area Median Income.

Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Listen to the Good Health, Better World Podcast Series: Season 1 to hear the latest from experts at UPMC and collaborating community-based organizations about the innovative and evidence-based ways we are working together to address disparities in social determinants of health.

Good Health, Better World Podcast Series Listen to Good Health, Better World on Apple Podcasts

Our Work

UPMC Health Plan is already leading the industry in transforming care delivery and the health care ecosystem through innovation, and our commitment to social initiatives goes back at least a decade. We collaborate with stakeholders from community-based organizations and across UPMC, including resource navigators. Social Impact focuses on these key domains: addressing basic social needs like housing and employment, coordinating and expanding access to benefits, and supporting underserved communities and individuals with unique health needs, such as members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. Examples of initiatives in the communities UPMC serves include:

Increasing Employment and Workforce Development

Unemployment can be a barrier to healthcare access. As one of the largest employers in the state, UPMC continues to think creatively about how to create workforce development and training initiatives that helped individuals find stable careers that pay family-sustaining wages. This initiative, Pathways to Work, has resulted in several partnerships and programs to build and expand workforce services.

Housing through Homeward

At UPMC Health Plan, we believe that access to affordable, stable housing is crucial to long-term physical and mental health as well as an individual's well-being. Evidence shows that stable housing positively impacts health outcomes and may also provide a critical foundation for addressing other SDOH factors such as education, food security, and health care affordability and access.

Partnering with Community-based Organizations

Critical to our success are the strong partnerships that we have fostered with community-based organizations (CBOs) to create 38 unique programs targeting social needs such as housing, food access/nutrition, workforce/employment, transportation, childcare access and affordability, clothing/basic necessities, financial strain, health care access and affordability, utilities, and health literacy.

Coordinating and Expanding Access to Benefits

We have been partners in designing and implementing twenty-six unique benefit programs to address social needs for members across the lifespan and life experience.

Implementing Innovation

We develop, pilot, evaluate, and scale innovative programming to improve health care access, quality, and affordability for our members.