Behavioral health treatment delivery by social workers in accountable care organizations.

Nearly half of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries receive their care through an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), in which provider groups are subject to healthcare cost and quality benchmarks for a defined patient population. Although the skills of the social work profession align with the goals of these contracts (coordination of service needs across multiple health and social care settings), there is little information on social worker inclusion as behavioral health providers in ACOs. We developed and administered a national survey of organizations ( = 227) with Medicare and Medicaid ACO contracts to provide an estimate of the percentage of ACOs that reported social worker-delivered behavioral health treatment.

Tobacco in hotels: A study of smoke exposure and resident risk.

Objectives: Extended-stay hotels (ESH) are a reliable and accessible housing option for low-income, minoritized renters, who are disproportionately exposed to secondhand and thirdhand cigarette smoke (SHS and THS). This study explores ESH residents' perceptions of their SHS and THS exposure, harms related to this exposure, their willingness to mitigate these harms, and the contextual factors associated with smoking in hotels.

Methods: Eighty ESH renters from the metropolitan Atlanta region were recruited to complete a survey about the perceived harm and persistence of tobacco smoke, exposure experiences, knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and intentions to protect oneself.

: Psychological distress and coping among medical social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Medical social workers are essential members of healthcare teams, especially during a pandemic. Their scope of practice includes conducting psychological assessments, coordinating social services, connecting patients to resources that address social determinants of health, discharge planning, and patient advocacy. Social workers' experiences of psychological distress were unique even before the COVID-19 pandemic; their work demands a high amount of emotional investment as they frequently witness others' pain and suffering and navigate various daily challenges and crises.