Becker’s Payer Issues Podcast Dr. Sameer Amin on Sustaining Medicaid and Social Determinants of Health Investments
Mar 20, 2026
Dr. Sameer Amin, Chief Medical Officer at L.A. Care and interventional cardiologist, describes building durable community infrastructure for Medicaid. He discusses sustaining social determinants investments like housing, food access, and care coordination. He also covers measuring ROI, reducing administrative burden, and strategies for prioritizing high-yield SDOH under budget pressure.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Build SDOH Infrastructure Not One-Off Programs
- Treat SDOH work as building community infrastructure rather than isolated programs.
- LA Care focuses grants, population health programming, and community resource centers to create durable services for transient Medi-Cal members.
Measure Short-Term KPIs To Prove ROI
- Use measurable KPIs that show short-term impact alongside long-term gains.
- Track metrics like reduced hospitalizations, ER use, closed quality gaps, and improved government quality performance to demonstrate ROI.
Public Plan ROI Includes Community Thriving
- ROI for a public plan includes community thriving and equity, not just financial return.
- LA Care measures success via fewer hospitalizations, better outcomes, and accountability to a member-representative board.