Start with a private needs check
Answer clear questions about housing, food, transportation, employment, education, and safety. Your answers stay on this device.
Start needs checkFood. Housing. Transportation. A place to begin.
When everyday life gets in the way of health, start here.
Food, housing, and transportation can all affect health. OpenDoor Care helps New Yorkers identify health-related social needs and find the appropriate regional next step.
Opening doors. Connecting care. Changing lives.
Your answers stay on this device and are cleared when you leave or reset. A Social Care Navigator completes official eligibility and service decisions.
Choose your starting point
What would help you most right now?
Explore the help that may be available
Learn what Social Care Network services can include and why a Navigator must verify eligibility before any support is arranged.
Explore servicesWhat help may include
Four parts of social care, explained clearly.
These services may be available to eligible members through an applicable Social Care Network pathway. A screening alone does not authorize any service.
Care management
Care navigation
A Social Care Navigator can explain which navigation path fits a member’s Medicaid coverage and program criteria.
Housing
Housing support
Eligible members may be connected to housing-related supports designed around safety, stability, recovery, or a successful transition.
Nutrition
Food and nutrition support
Nutrition services may range from education to meals, groceries, food prescriptions, or cooking supplies for eligible members.
Transportation
Transportation support
A limited transportation pathway may help eligible members reach Enhanced HRSN services or related social-care management activities.
Understanding a possible pathway
Who may qualify
Enhanced HRSN Services are reviewed service by service. A Social Care Navigator completes the official eligibility assessment.
An identified unmet health-related social need.
Enrollment in an eligible Medicaid Managed Care plan.
Membership in at least one Enhanced Population.
Any additional service-specific social-risk, clinical, medical-necessity, documentation, authorization, and nonduplication requirements.
One part of the review
Enhanced Populations
Being in one of these groups is one part of the review. It does not automatically approve a service.
- Medicaid high utilizers.
- People enrolled in a New York State-designated Health Home.
- People with substance use disorder.
Rent and temporary housing
Up to 6 months
Some qualifying Medicaid Managed Care members with an unmet housing need may be authorized for rent, back-rent, or temporary-housing support for up to six months. Additional Enhanced Population, housing-risk, homelessness-risk, clinical, documentation, and program criteria apply. Payment goes to an approved landlord or housing provider, not directly to the member. Approval, amount, duration, and regional availability are determined through the Social Care Network process.
Pregnancy and postpartum nutrition
Up to 12 months postpartum
Qualifying pregnant or postpartum Medicaid Managed Care members with an unmet nutrition need may be authorized for certain meals, food prescriptions, or pantry-stocking support throughout pregnancy and for up to 12 months postpartum. Certain qualifying prepared-meal services may provide up to three meals per day, seven days per week. The exact service, frequency, duration, and availability depend on the official eligibility assessment, service-specific requirements, authorization, current program rules, and regional capacity.
The online needs check identifies possible needs. A Social Care Navigator completes the official eligibility assessment and service review.
Your path to support
A clear path from questions to human help.
The needs check helps you organize concerns before continuing with the appropriate regional program process.
- 01
Share what is getting in the way
Answer clear questions about food, housing, transportation, and other everyday needs.
- 02
Review possible pathways
Use your completed needs check to understand which support pathways may fit.
- 03
Connect with a person
Continue with the appropriate Social Care Network or qualified Navigator for personalized help.
Available support
Ready when you are.
Available nowThe private AHC needs check and clear service information are available now.
Regional next stepUse the regional guide and official New York finder to identify the right Social Care Network.
See how help worksRegional service guide
Find the right regional next step.
Explore 38 counties across 4 New York focus regions. Use the local lookup below, then continue to the official New York finder for your assigned Social Care Network.
View the regional county mapFinger Lakes
FLIPA
14 counties
Regional focus area
Capital Region
Healthy Alliance
8 counties
Regional focus area
Central New York
Healthy Alliance
6 counties
Regional focus area
North Country
Healthy Alliance
10 counties
Regional focus area
Regional guide
Find your service area
Explore the 38-county focus area and identify the Social Care Network serving your region.
All 62 New York counties are shown. Strong colors mark OpenDoor Care's focus regions; subtle colors show the other statewide SCN regions.
Choose a county on the map or search by county, ZIP code, or address. A qualified Social Care Navigator completes official eligibility and service decisions.
This regional guide is based on county geography. A qualified Social Care Navigator completes official eligibility and service decisions.
Private self-guided check
Start your health-related social needs check.
Answer the AHC questions in one clear, private experience. The check asks no identifying questions, and your answers stay on this device.
Questions, answered plainly
What to know about the needs check.
How does the needs check work?
The private AHC needs check is available now. It helps you organize health-related social needs, keeps your answers on this device, and points you toward the appropriate next step.
Who may qualify for Enhanced HRSN Services?
People may qualify when they have an identified unmet health-related social need, are enrolled in an eligible Medicaid Managed Care plan, are in at least one Enhanced Population, and meet any additional service-specific requirements. A Social Care Navigator performs the official eligibility assessment.
What are the Enhanced Populations?
Enhanced Populations include Medicaid high utilizers; people enrolled in a New York State-designated Health Home; people with substance use disorder or serious mental illness; adults or children with an intellectual or developmental disability; pregnant people and people up to 12 months postpartum; certain people up to 90 days after release from incarceration who have a chronic condition; and high-risk children under age 18. Being in one of these groups is one part of the review and does not automatically approve a service.
Do I need Medicaid Managed Care?
Enhanced HRSN Services require enrollment in an eligible Medicaid Managed Care plan, along with the other eligibility and service-specific requirements.
Can Medicaid Fee-for-Service members receive help?
Medicaid Fee-for-Service members and Medicaid Managed Care members who do not qualify for Enhanced HRSN Services may still receive navigation to existing federal, state, local, and community programs.
What happens after I complete the online needs check?
The online needs check helps identify concerns to discuss. A Social Care Navigator then completes the official eligibility assessment and any service authorization.