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For South Texas Physician’s Alliance, social determinants of health referral has been a learning experience.
The organization, which has joined providers across the country in efforts to address social determinants of health, knew the best solution was connecting patients to social services providers.
A patient presenting with food insecurity needs a referral to a food pantry, or a patient with housing insecurity might need the help of a medical-legal partnership.
But even with that strategy, organizations are facing an uphill battle, largely in terms of networking.
“There’s just so much that we need to learn because it’s just not an area in which medicine is used to functioning,” Sheila Magoon, MD, the executive director of South Texas Physician’s Alliance, told PatientEngagementHIT.