On Thursday, June 24, the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing entitled “Empowered by Data: Legislation to Advance Equity and Public Health.” Aligning for Health is thrilled that the Subcommittee convened this hearing to examine the importance of legislation to advance equity and public health.

We strongly support the Committee’s efforts to assess and discuss what actionable steps Congress can take now to improve access to, and the coordination of, public health, health care and social services. Improving data sharing and the delivery and coordination of care across public health, health care, and social service sectors will help to address upstream social factors, address unmet social needs, and improve health outcomes for all.

Aligning for Health submitted a statement for the record to the Committee outlining how social determinants impact health outcomes and drive health inequities, and the importance of cross-sector coordination and how bipartisan bills such as the Social Determinants Accelerator Act (H.R. 2503) can help address this. We also outline the importance of collecting, reporting, and exchange of health and social needs data, and how legislation such as the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities (LINC) to Address Social Needs Act (S. 509) would provide funding to states to catalyze, establish, and augment efforts to better connect and share information across sectors.

To read the full statement for the record, click here.