The movement to better address the social and environmental factors that affect health has insurance companies and other payers looking beyond the hospital or clinic and stepping into the community to give patients help where it's needed.
A growing body of research has found a strong link between youth incarceration and poor health outcomes.
Organizations that account for the social determinants of health and connect patients to services that meet their social needs could reduce spending by approximately 11 percent within a year, according to a recent study.
Health systems and community stakeholders around the country are choosing to form new collaborations to address the social factors that have created great health disparities between low-income and more-affluent neighborhoods.
Researchers from Wake Forest published a study in The Foundation Review last month on how health conversion foundations can better address the social determinants of health. Interact for Health, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland and the Saint Luke’s Foundation were interviewed for the study, titled “Becoming Strategic: Finding Leverage Over the Social and Economic Determinants of Health.”
A study published last month found that lead exposure may be responsible for up to 10 times more deaths in the U.S. than previously thought. The study, published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, concluded about 400,000 deaths per year can be attributed to lead, a much higher number than previously reported.
Ohio once again ranks near the bottom in the national Well-Being Index, which ranks states based on factors such as whether its residents like what they do every day; have supportive relationships, financial security and a positive community environment; and report having good health.
Social determinants of health (SDOH), such as food insecurity and housing instability, can determine health outcomes, but the healthcare industry isn't effectively collecting SDOH data or addressing social needs that can affect a person’s health, according to a new report by the National Quality Forum.
A new national study estimates that thousands of deaths per year are caused by air pollution, underscoring the connection between physical environment and health. The effect was greater for low-income people, African-Americans, women and those over 70.
Health plans, medical practices and some Medicaid programs are increasingly offering financial incentives to motivate Medicaid patients to engage in more preventive care and make healthier lifestyle choices.
