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Broad Social Determinants of Health Approaches Focus on Community - PatientEngagementHIT.com

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By Emily Sokol, MPH

- Rather than zeroing in on a single social determinant of health (SDOH), provider organizations are targeting a variety of SDOHs and working with community partners to address these challenges in their patient populations, revealed the latest report from Insights by Xtelligent Healthcare Media.

Social determinants of health are the non-clinical factors that influence a patient’s health such as access to healthy foods, stable housing, and transportation. Research has shown that these factors often have a greater impact on patient health than the clinical care a patient receives.  

Findings from the most recent Insights report show a majority of provider organizations (54 percent) are currently deploying strategies to address social determinants of health. Another 12 percent of provider organizations surveyed had plans in the works.

But providers are not trained treat these factors like they are diabetes or hypertension. So how do providers address these challenges with their patients knowing they have a large impact on health outcomes?

Provider organizations commonly screen patients for their social determinants of health and then refer patients to community organizations that can help with these challenges. For example, a patient who reports experiencing homelessness could be referred to a shelter.

Results from Insights Social Determinants of Health Strategies and Initiatives show a majority (56 percent) of provider organizations are screening patients for all social determinants that impact care rather than singular factors.

“Social determinants are starting to overcome everything else,” said a surgeon in private practice during qualitative follow-up on the survey results.

Many (59 percent) organizations building social determinants of health initiatives are motivated for moral and ethical reasons rather than pressure from executive leadership (44 percent) or increased funding (14 percent).

This intrinsic motivation providers feel to address patient social determinants of health highlights how important these factors are in patient care.

“You need to talk about the whole gamut with patients,” emphasized another participant during qualitative follow-up. “That’s where the social determinants of health really come in. This whole community impacts healthcare.”

So leveraging community partners is key to social determinants of health strategies. Working with community partners, providers have increased awareness of the community’s resources and can refer patients to helpful services.

For many provider organizations, these partnerships include community-based organizations that specialize in one social determinant of health such as food pantries (73 percent), government organizations (67 percent), and community-based organizations that cover a variety of social determinants of health such as United Way (64 percent).

Some respondents also lean on public payers, schools, and local businesses to support social determinant of health efforts.

Regardless of the specific partner, it is clear that these partnerships are crucial in addressing social determinants of health.

Collaboration between community partners and provider organizations will be critical moving forward as strategies mature and more initiatives take off. Without cooperation from all partners, patient health outcomes could suffer. So future work should promote effective partnerships that keep patient care at the center of all work.

Social Determinants of Health Strategies and Initiatives also highlights hospital, health system, and physician practice motivation for social determinants of health strategies and outcomes hospitals and physician groups are focusing on to understand success in social determinants of health initiatives. The full report can be found here.

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Broad Social Determinants of Health Approaches Focus on Community - PatientEngagementHIT.com
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