Assessing the Impact of Social Needs and Social Determinants of Health on Health Care Utilization

Research examining the effect of social needs and social determinants of health (SDOH) on health care usage, particularly regarding housing requirements as a SDOH.

• Relevant to patients at an academic medical center.

• Analysis of electronic health records (EHR) data indicates that:

• Patients facing housing instability had more health care interactions.

• Greater frequency of encounters noted specifically in disadvantaged areas.

Underlines the increasing recognition of the significance of addressing social needs and SDOH.

• Unmet social needs lead to:

• Increased health care expenses.

• Lower life expectancy.

Data collection:

• Sourced from EHRs at JHHS.

• Supplemented with community-level SDOH data from the US Census ACS 5-Year Estimates.

• Various housing challenges analyzed using natural language processing (NLP).

Key findings:

• 5.8% of patients reported having housing problems, resulting in more visits to JHHS.

• Patients in disadvantaged neighborhoods showed more frequent encounters.

Stresses the importance of:

• Merging EHR data with community-level insights.

• Standardizing the process of gathering data on social needs.

Conclusion:

• Addressing both individual social needs and broader community SDOH can improve health care utilization.