Social Need Screening and Intervention: What’s Changing in the MY 2026 Technical Update
December 10, 2025 · NCQA Communications
Unmet social needs—food insecurity, lack of stable or adequate housing and transportation inaccessibility—are linked to poorer access to care and worse clinical outcomes. Recognizing these upstream drivers of health, NCQA introduced the Social Need Screening and Intervention (SNS-E) measure for HEDIS® MY 2023.
An updated version of the measure was released for MY 2026, allowing additional data sources for reporting measure components. Given the changes outlined in the CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule, the recent code updates made to the SNS-E measure will be retracted in the HEDIS MY 2026 Technical Update.
What Is the SNS-E Measure?
The SNS-E measure is specified for the Electronic Clinical Data Systems (ECDS) reporting method, which leverages data from EHRs, registries, HIEs, case management systems and claims. This measure assesses the percentage of people screened for unmet food, housing and transportation needs, and the percentage of people with a positive screen who received a corresponding intervention within 30 days. The measure includes six rates, a screening and intervention rate for each of the three social domains. It is reported for all ages and all product lines—Medicaid, Medicare and Commercial.
Recent Measure Updates in MY 2026
Following the release of the 2024 Physician Fee Schedule, which included the addition of the HCPCS G0136 code (defined as “Administration of a standardized, evidence-based SDOH assessment, 5–15 minutes”) NCQA added the following administrative codes to the measure in MY 2026 to support standardized reporting:
- HCPCS G0136 for provider-administered SDOH assessments.
- ICD-10 Z codes for identifying social needs for intervention.
What’s Changing in the MY 2026 Technical Update?
The 2026 Physician Fee Schedule modifies the description for the G0136 code to: “Administration of a standardized, evidence-based assessment of physical activity and nutrition.” It no longer includes assessments for upstream drivers of health. Because this code no longer aligns with SNS-E’s intent, NCQA is making the following updates in the MY 2026 Technical Update:
- Removing HCPCS G0136 from screening numerators.
- Removing ICD-10 Z59 codes (related to housing, food, transportation) from intervention denominators, as they can no longer be linked to standardized screenings via G0136.
- Additional minor updates to value sets and specifications.
What’s NOT Changing in the MY 2026 Technical Update?
- Use of LOINC codes corresponding to standardized screening questions to report the SNS-E measure.
- Removal of assessments from allowable interventions.
Impact of the Changes
The addition of the G0136 code was intended to reduce documentation burden by providing an additional administrative code to capture social needs screening, rather than relying solely on the submission of LOINC codes. Because recent changes to the code’s definition no longer align with that intent, the SNS-E measure will revert to its original specification.
Looking Ahead
NCQA remains committed to advancing measurement that captures social needs to improve care quality and outcomes. As the social drivers of health evidence base and policy landscape evolve, we will continue to adapt the SNS-E measure while maintaining its underlying intent: to help health plans identify and address unmet social needs that impact health.
Stay tuned for the MY 2026 Technical Update in March 2026, which will include the updated Social Need Screening and Intervention (SNS-E) measure specification.
HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
