Population health management and value-based reimbursement success hinge on reducing healthcare costs not only when a patient is in the exam room, but also when they are beyond the walls of the practice or hospital. Therefore, understanding where a patient lives, their income, education level, job status, and other social determinants of health (SDOH) is critical…
Few healthcare organizations are investing in social determinants of health technology, and while an uptick is expected, the market will remain relatively weak until providers find the best way to use the data, according to a new analysis from Patchwise Labs. The report found that fewer than 4% of health systems and managed care organizations…
Medical professionals and other healthcare industry stakeholders need to develop strategies that allow clinicians to address the social determinants of health without adding to administrative burden and provider burnout, according to a recent report from Leavitt Partners. The whitepaper, informed by a survey of 621 clinicians across the country, contended that the increased focus on…
Last year, Intermountain Healthcare‘s McKay-Dee Hospital in Utah opened a behavioral health center in hopes of reducing the number of patients who presented at the hospital’s ED with a behavioral health crisis—and officials say the investment is paying off, Maria Castellucci writes for Modern Healthcare. In the years before the new center opened, from 2012…
In 2013, Earnest Carter, MD, deputy health officer of Maryland’s Prince George’s County Health Department, sought and received grant funding to improve population health in the community. His vision was to involve various local stakeholders and focus on social issues impacting an individual’s ability to live a healthy life. In 2016, Prince George’s partnered with…
Medicaid accountable care organizations (ACOs) are designed to improve health care quality while delivering more efficient care. But, medical care is only one of several factors affecting health outcomes. Social determinants of health (SDOH), such as living environment and access to healthy food, affect health outcomes and, consequently, an ACO’s bottom line. Because most ACOs…
At UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock, Ark., clinicians are prompted by their electronic health record system to ask patients personal questions about their home life and eating habits. Those inquiries over the past few years helped reduce the hospital’s overall readmission rate to 10% from 13.8% before it began gathering data on social determinants…
To achieve quality health outcomes, organizations must deliver excellent patient care. However, patients may suffer poor outcomes – even if they have access to the best care in the world – if providers fail to consider social determinants of health, including factors such as socioeconomic status, education, social network support, access to care, access to…
Social determinants of health are not just about soft skills and the promise of helping patients by better understanding their individual circumstances any more. Rather, there’s a legitimate business case to be made — and it’s a powerful one. Exactly how big is the opportunity when you start to look at overall spending? And what…
Former HHS Acting Assistant Secretary Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSC, will be co-chairing a new public health institute that will target and engage local health partners to help meet the social determinants of health. The de Beaumont Foundation and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine, and Society (HMS) Program will be spearheading the Public Health Reaching…