Study from Witt, Benson, Campbell, Silah, and Berra (2016) describing the structure of peer-led support groups offered by WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women Living with Heart Disease and assesses participants' quality of life and social, emotional, and physical health.

IMPORTANCE Social determinants of health shape both children’s immediate health and their lifetime risk for disease. Increasingly, pediatric health care organizations are intervening to address family social adversity. However, little evidence is available on the effectiveness of related interventions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE To our knowledge, this investigation is the first randomized clinical trial to evaluate health outcomes of a pediatric social needs navigation program. Compared with an active control at 4 months after enrollment, the intervention significantly decreased families’ reports of social needs and significantly improved children’s overall health status as reported by caregivers. These findings support the feasibility and potential effect of addressing social needs in pediatric health care settings. Gottlieb et al., 2016.

The goals of this cross-sectional study were to (a) describe the prevalence of 5 basic social needs in a cohort of parents attending an urban teaching hospital–based pediatric clinic, (b) assess parental attitudes toward seeking assistance from their child’s provider, and (c) examine resident providers’ attitudes and behaviors toward addressing these needs. Parents (n = 100) reported a median of 2 basic needs at the pediatric visit. The most common was employment (52%), followed by education (34%), child care (19%), food (16%), and housing (10%). Most parents (67%) had positive attitudes toward requesting assistance from their child’s pediatrician. The majority of resident providers (91%) believed in the importance of addressing social needs; however, few reported routinely screening for these needs (range, 11% to 18%). There is great potential for assisting low-income parents within the medical home. Further practice-based interventions are needed to enhance providers’ self-efficacy to screen and address low-income families’ needs at pediatric visits. Garg et al., 2009

In a national Robert Wood Johnson Foundation survey of primary care providers and pediatricians, 85 percent believe that unmet social needs—things like access to nutritious food, reliable transportation and adequate housing—are leading directly to worse health for all Americans. Furthermore, 4 in 5 physicians do not feel confident in their capacity to meet their patients’ social needs, and they believe this impedes their ability to provide quality care.

This is health care’s blind side: Within the current health care system, physicians do not have the time or sufficient staff support to address patients’ social needs.

The health care industry has customarily thought about health care data and individual responsibility as primary influencers of a person’s health outcomes. Organizations are now recognizing that alternative drivers, such as economic status, social factors and physical environment are also key influencers in health outcomes. But, how should organizations leverage social determinants in managing populations? How do they integrate these insights into existing processes to help providers make more informed decisions at an individual and population level?

Speakers: 

Jeffrey D. Colvin, MD, JD, University of Missouri-Kansas, Children’s Mercy Hospital and

Tanuj K. Gupta, MD, MBA, Senior Director and Physician Executive, Population Health at Cerner Corporation.

August 17, 2017

Most agree that HIE’s have the potential to eliminate redundant and often harmful medical procedures. Some suggest that HIE’s are a critical component for any organization offering valued-based care and pop health services.

Many organizations are attempting to show value by measuring the volume of transactions and some are trying to showing how HIE's can create greater efficiencies from a cost savings perspective. These efforts are likely to fall short of what’s truly needed.

Adopting the rigor of a continuous process improvement approach to measure the value of investments is necessary to ensure continued sustainability of HIE's - at the state and community level. This resource can help provide with the basic building blocks to get started and a roadmap to ensure future success

Funded by the California Healthcare Foundation, this brief examines how eHealth tools can improve the management of diabetes among socially disadvantaged populations. Further findings are discussed in the final report.

Funded by the California Healthcare Foundation, this brief examines how eHealth tools can improve the management of heart disease among socially disadvantaged populations. Further findings are discussed in the final report.