Social Risk Factors and Desire for Assistance Among Patients Receiving Subsidized Health Care Insurance in a US-Based Integrated Delivery System

Caring for dementia caregivers: How well does social risk screening reflect unmet needs?

BACKGROUND

Unmet social and caregiving needs can make caregiving for a person with dementia more difficult. Although national policy encourages adoption of systematic screening for health-related social risks (HRSRs) in clinical settings, the accuracy of these risk-based screening tools for detecting unmet social needs is unknown.

METHODS

We used baseline data from dementia caregivers (N = 343) enrolled in a randomized controlled trial evaluating CommunityRx-Dementia, a social care intervention conducted on Chicago's South Side. We assessed caregivers' (1) unmet social and caregiving needs by querying need for 14 resource types and (2) HRSRs using the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Accountable Health Communities (AHC) screening tool. Using unmet social needs as the reference, we examined the sensitivity of the AHC tool to detect food, housing, and transportation needs. Analyses were stratified by gender.

RESULTS

Most caregivers were women (78%), non-Hispanic (96%), Black (81%), partnered (58%) and had an annual household income ≥$50K (64%). Unmet social and caregiving needs were similarly prevalent among women and men caregivers (87% had ≥1 need, 43% had ≥5 needs). HRSRs were also prevalent. The most common HRSR was lack of social support (45%). Housing instability, difficulty with utilities and having any HRSRs were significantly more prevalent among women (all p < 0.05). The AHC screener had low sensitivity for detecting unmet food (39%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 27%-53%), housing (42%, 95% CI: 31%-53%), and transportation (22%, 95% CI: 14%-31%) needs. Sensitivity did not differ by gender for food (41% for women and 30% for men, p = 0.72) or housing (44% for women and 29% for men, p = 0.37) needs. For transportation needs, sensitivity was 27% for women versus 0% for men (p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Men and women caregivers have high rates of unmet social needs that are often missed by the CMS-recommended risk-based screening method. Findings indicate a role for need-based screening in implementing social care.

Factors affecting U.S. adults' comfort level in sharing social needs information with healthcare providers

OBJECTIVE

This study examines various factors affecting U.S. adults' comfort level in sharing information about their social needs with healthcare providers.

METHODS

We used data from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey (cycle 6), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults (n = 6252). The outcome variables were participants' comfort level in sharing information about three social needs (food insecurity, transportation difficulties, and housing instability). Data were analyzed using weighted bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Participants who faced discrimination when getting medical care based on race/ethnicity were more likely to be uncomfortable in sharing information about food insecurity, housing instability, and transportation difficulties. Those who trusted the healthcare system "a lot" were less likely to be uncomfortable in sharing information about food insecurity and transportation difficulties. Patient-Centered Communication (PCC) and social isolation scores significantly affected participants' comfort level in sharing information about social needs.

CONCLUSION

Various factors such as trust, discrimination, social isolation, and PCC were found to be significantly affecting US adults' comfort level in sharing information about social needs.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Healthcare systems and policymakers should focus on developing approaches and strategies to enhance trust, reduce discrimination, improve patient-provider communication, and create supportive social environments.

Beyond ''Screen & Refer'': Understanding Families' Use of Resources for Health-Related Social Needs Identified via Primary Care

OBJECTIVE

As health-related social needs (HRSN) screening increases, attention to families' resource preferences lags. This study of a pediatric primary care intervention (DULCE) with reliable HRSN screening and resource connection explored whether resources adequately addressed families' needs and, when HRSN persisted, families' reasons for declining resources.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort, mixed-methods study analyzed data from 989 families that received care at seven pediatric clinics implementing DULCE in three states. DULCE screens for seven HRSN around the 1-month and 4-month well-child visits; we calculated the percent of initial and ongoing positive screens. For positive rescreens, we calculated the percent that had all eligible or wanted resources and that were interested in further resources. We also analyzed case notes, which elicited families' resource preferences, and explored demographic characteristics associated with ongoing HRSN.

RESULTS

Half of enrolled families (508 of 989) initially screened positive for HRSN; 124 families had positive rescreens; 26 expressed interest in further assistance. Most families with ongoing concrete supports needs accessed all eligible resources (60-100%); 20-58% had everything they wanted. Fewer families with ongoing maternal depression and intimate partner violence accessed all eligible resources (48% and 18%, respectively); most reported having all wanted resources (76% and 90%, respectively). Families declined resources due to lack of perceived need, the HRSN resolving, or families addressed HRSN themselves. White families were more likely to rescreen positive.

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric medical homes must honor family-centered decision-making while empowering families to accept beneficial resources. Health care systems should advocate for resources that families need and want.

Food Insecurity and Community-Based Food Resources Among Caregivers of Hospitalized Children

OBJECTIVE

Children's hospitals are implementing interventions to connect families to community-based resources. This study describes food insecurity (FI) and food resource knowledge, need, and use among families with a hospitalized child.

METHODS

Between November 2020 and June 2022, 637 caregivers of hospitalized children in an urban 42-ZIP-code area were surveyed as part of a randomized controlled trial. The United States Department of Agriculture 18-item Household Food Security Survey was used to evaluate 12-month food security (food secure [score of 0=FS]; marginally secure [1-2=MFS]; insecure [3-18=FI]). Food resource knowledge, need, and use were described by food security status and examined using Cochran-Armitage tests. The distribution of local resources was obtained from a database and mapped by ZIP code.

RESULTS

Comparing FI (35.0%) with MFS (17.6%) and FS (47.4%) groups, the rates of resource knowledge were lower (70.2% vs 78.5%, 80.5%), and the rates of need (55.1% vs 30.6%, 14.2%) and use (55.3% vs 51.4%, 40.8%) were higher. Rates of food resource knowledge increased linearly with increasing food security (FI to MFS to FS; P = .008), whereas the rates of resource need (P < .001) and use (P = .001) decreased with increasing food security. There were 311 community-based organizations across 36 ZIP codes with participants (range/ZIP code = 0-20, median = 8).

CONCLUSIONS

Half of families with a hospitalized child experienced FI or MFS. Although families exhibited high food resource knowledge, nearly half of families with FI had unmet food needs or had never used resources.

Families Benefit After Utilization of a Clinic-Based Food Pantry Irrespective of Food Insecurity Experiences in a Pediatric Obesity Treatment Program

PURPOSE

To evaluate the congruence between food insecurity screening outcome and clinic-based food pantry utilization and to examine caregiver reported comfort, motivation, and benefits of utilization.

DESIGN

Mixed-methods study.

SETTING

Academic pediatric obesity treatment clinic.

SUBJECTS

Convenience sample of caregivers.

INTERVENTION

Clinic-based food pantry offered irrespective of food insecurity screening outcome.

MEASURES

Food insecurity screening (Hunger Vital Sign) and severity, self-rated caregiver health, willingness to disclose food insecurity and receive food, and food-related stress.

ANALYSIS

Chi-square and t-tests were utilized to examine associations and descriptive analysis explored benefits. Rapid qualitative analysis was utilized to identify themes.

RESULTS

Caregivers of 120 children were included (child mean age 11.8; 56.7% female, 67.6% Non-Hispanic Black), with 47 of 59 eligible completing follow-up surveys and 14 completing in-depth interviews. Approximately half (N = 30/59, 50.8%) of families utilizing the food pantry screened negative for food insecurity. Families utilizing the food pantry were more likely to report severe food insecurity (N = 23/59; 38.9%) compared to those declining (N = 3/61; 4.9%, P < .001). Caregivers accepting food were able to meet a child health goal (N = 30/47, 63.8%). Caregivers reported feeling comfortable receiving food (N = 13/14) and felt utilizing the food pantry led to consumption of healthier foods (N = 7/14).

CONCLUSIONS

Families who screened both positive and negative for food insecurity utilized and benefited from a clinic-based food pantry. Clinics should consider strategies offering food resources to all families irrespective of screening outcome.

Structured and unstructured social risk factor documentation in the electronic health record underestimates patients' self-reported risks

OBJECTIVES

National attention has focused on increasing clinicians' responsiveness to the social determinants of health, for example, food security. A key step toward designing responsive interventions includes ensuring that information about patients' social circumstances is captured in the electronic health record (EHR). While prior work has assessed levels of EHR "social risk" documentation, the extent to which documentation represents the true prevalence of social risk is unknown. While no gold standard exists to definitively characterize social risks in clinical populations, here we used the best available proxy: social risks reported by patient survey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We compared survey results to respondents' EHR social risk documentation (clinical free-text notes and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems [ICD-10] codes).

RESULTS

Surveys indicated much higher rates of social risk (8.2%-40.9%) than found in structured (0%-2.0%) or unstructured (0%-0.2%) documentation.

DISCUSSION

Ideally, new care standards that include incentives to screen for social risk will increase the use of documentation tools and clinical teams' awareness of and interventions related to social adversity, while balancing potential screening and documentation burden on clinicians and patients.

CONCLUSION

EHR documentation of social risk factors currently underestimates their prevalence.

Implementing and Enhancing Social and Economic Needs Screening at a Federally Qualified Health Center

BACKGROUND

Programs to screen for social and economic needs (SENs) are challenging to implement.

AIM

To describe implementation of an SEN screening program for patients obtaining care at a federally qualified health center (FQHC).

SETTING

Large Chicago-area FQHC where many patients are Hispanic/Latino and insured through Medicaid.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

In the program's phase 1 (beginning April 2020), a prescreening question asked about patients' interest in receiving community resources; staff then called interested patients. After several refinements (e.g., increased staffing, tailored reductions in screening frequency) to address challenges such as a large screening backlog, program phase 2 began in February 2021. In phase 2, a second prescreening question asked about patients' preferred modality to learn about community resources (text/email versus phone calls).

PROGRAM EVALUATION

During phase 1, 8925 of 29,861 patients (30%) expressed interest in community resources. Only 40% of interested patients were successfully contacted and screened. In phase 2, 5781 of 21,737 patients (27%) expressed interest in resources; 84% of interested patients were successfully contacted by either text/email (43%) or phone (41%).

DISCUSSION

Under one-third of patients obtaining care at an FQHC expressed interest in community resources for SENs. After program refinements, rates of follow-up with interested patients substantially increased.

Housing instability and psychological distress in African American cancer survivors: findings from the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors study

PURPOSE

As health care systems seek to screen for and address housing instability in patient populations, robust evidence linking unstable housing to patient-reported outcomes is needed. Housing instability may increase psychological distress in cancer survivors, potentially more so among African American cancer survivors who are also likely to experience disproportionate burden of housing instability. The purpose of this analysis was to estimate associations between housing instability and psychological distress in African Americans diagnosed with cancer.

METHODS

We included survey responses from 2875 African American cancer survivors in the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors (ROCS) study. We examined how housing instability at enrollment, using an item adapted from the Health Leads Screening Toolkit, related to psychological distress at enrollment, using Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement System (PROMIS) 4-item anxiety and depression short forms. Linear regression models adjusted for sociodemographic factors were used to estimate associations overall and stratified by stage at diagnosis.

RESULTS

Approximately 12% of participants reported being unstably housed. Housing instability was associated with significant differences in PROMIS scores for both anxiety (difference: 6.79; 95% CI: 5.57-8.01) and depression (difference: 6.16; 95% CI: 4.99-7.34). We did not find meaningful differences stratifying by disease stage.

CONCLUSION

Housing instability was experienced by over a tenth of this cohort of African American cancer survivors and was related to statistically and clinically meaningful differences in psychological distress even following adjustment for sociodemographics.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

These findings provide evidence supporting screening of housing instability in cancer survivors, especially those from medically underserved populations.

The adoption of social determinants of health documentation in clinical settings

OBJECTIVE

To understand the frequency of social determinants of health (SDOH) diagnosis codes (Z-codes) within the electronic health record (EHR) for patients with prediabetes and diabetes and examine factors influencing the adoption of SDOH documentation in clinical care.

DATA SOURCES

EHR data and qualitative interviews with health care providers and stakeholders.

STUDY DESIGN

An explanatory sequential mixed methods design first examined the use of Z-codes within the EHR and qualitatively examined barriers to documenting SDOH. Data were integrated and interpreted using a joint display. This research was informed by the Framework for Dissemination and Utilization of Research for Health Care Policy and Practice.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS

We queried EHR data for patients with a hemoglobin A1c > 5.7 between October 1, 2015 and September 1, 2020 (n = 118,215) to examine the use of Z-codes and demographics and outcomes for patients with and without social needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 participants (n = 15 health care providers; n = 7 billing and compliance stakeholders). The interview questions sought to understand how factors at the innovation-, individual-, organizational-, and environmental-level influence SDOH documentation. We used thematic analysis to analyze interview data.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Patients with social needs were disproportionately older, female, Black, uninsured, living in low-income and high unemployment neighborhoods, and had a higher number of hospitalizations, obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes than those without a Z-code. Z-codes were not frequently used in the EHR (<1% of patients), and there was an overall lack of congruence between quantitative and qualitative results related to the prevalence of social needs. Providers faced barriers at multiple levels (e.g., individual-level: discomfort discussing social needs; organizational-level: limited time, competing priorities) for documenting SDOH and identified strategies to improve documentation.

CONCLUSIONS

Providers recognized the impact of SDOH on patient health and had positive perceptions of screening for and documenting social needs. Implementation strategies are needed to improve systematic documentation.

The association of patient-reported social determinants of health and hospitalization rate: A scoping review

Introduction

The interplay between social determinants of health (SDOH) and hospitalization is significant as targeted interventions can improve the social status of the individuals. This interrelation has been historically overlooked in health care. In the present study, we reviewed studies in which the association between patient-reported social risks and hospitalization rate was assessed.

Method

We performed a scoping literature review of articles published until September 1, 2022 without time limit. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar to find relevant studies using terms representing "social determinants of health" and "hospitalization." Forward and backward reference checking was done for the included studies. All studies that used patient-reported data as a proxy of social risks to determine the association between social risks and hospitalization rates were included. The screening and data extraction processes were done independently by two authors. In case of disagreement, senior authors were consulted.

Results

Our search process retrieved a total of 14,852 records. After the duplicate removal and screening process, eight studies met the eligibility criteria, all of which were published from 2020 to 2022. The sample size of the studies ranged from 226 to 56,155 participants. All eight studies investigated the impact of food security on hospitalization, and six investigated economic status. In three studies, latent class analysis was applied to divide participants based on their social risks. Seven studies found a statistically significant association between social risks and hospitalization rates.

Conclusion

Individuals with social risk factors are more susceptible to hospitalization. There is a need for a paradigm shift to meet these needs and reduce the number of preventable hospitalizations.

Do patients want clinicians to ask about social needs and include this information in their medical record?

Background

Social needs screening in primary care may be valuable for addressing non-medical health-related factors, such as housing insecurity, that interfere with optimal medical care. Yet it is unclear if patients welcome such screening and how comfortable they are having this information included in electronic health records (EHR).

Objective

To assess patient attitudes toward inclusion of social needs information in the EHR and key correlates, such as sociodemographic status, self-rated health, and trust in health care.

Design, participants, and main measures

In a cross-sectional survey of patients attending a primary care clinic for annual or employment exams, 218/560 (38%) consented and completed a web survey or personal interview between 8/20/20-8/23/21. Patients provided social needs information using the Accountable Care Communities Screening Tool. For the primary outcome, patients were asked, “Would you be comfortable having these kinds of needs included in your health record (also known as your medical record or chart)?”

Analyses

Regression models were estimated to assess correlates of patient comfort with including social needs information in medical records.

Key results

The median age was 45, 68.8% were female, and 78% were white. Median income was $75,000 and 84% reported education beyond high school. 85% of patients reported they were very or somewhat comfortable with questions about social needs, including patients reporting social needs. Social need ranged from 5.5% (utilities) to 26.6% (housing), and nonwhite and gender-nonconforming patients reported greater need. 20% reported “some” or “complete” discomfort with social needs information included in the EHR. Adjusting for age, gender, race, education, trust, and self-rated health, each additional reported social need significantly increased discomfort with the EHR for documenting social needs.

Conclusions

People with greater social needs were more wary of having this information placed in the EHR. This is a concerning finding, since one rationale for collecting social need data is to use this information (presumably in the EHR) for addressing needs.

"It Made Me Feel like Things Are Starting to Change in Society:" A Qualitative Study to Foster Positive Patient Experiences during Phone-Based Social Needs Interventions

Many healthcare organizations are screening patients for health-related social needs (HRSN) to improve healthcare quality and outcomes. Due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and limited time during clinical visits, much of this screening is now happening by phone. To promote healing and avoid harm, it is vital to understand patient experiences and recommendations regarding these activities. We conducted a pragmatic qualitative study with patients who had participated in a HRSN intervention. We applied maximum variation sampling, completed recruitment and interviews by phone, and carried out an inductive reflexive thematic analysis. From August to November 2021 we interviewed 34 patients, developed 6 themes, and used these themes to create a framework for generating positive patient experiences during phone-based HRSN interventions. First, we found patients were likely to have initial skepticism or reservations about the intervention. Second, we identified 4 positive intervention components regarding patient experience: transparency and respect for patient autonomy; kind demeanor; genuine intention to help; and attentiveness and responsiveness to patients' situations. Finally, we found patients could be left with feelings of appreciation or hope, regardless of whether they connected with HRSN resources. Healthcare organizations can incorporate our framework into trainings for team members carrying out phone-based HRSN interventions.

The Perceived Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Social Needs of Adult Emergency Department Patients

Objectives:

We aim to assess the influence of COVID-19 on the social needs of emergency department (ED) patients, and assess patients' access to social services.

Methods:

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 175 purposively sampled adult ED patients.

Results:

Approximately half of participants stated that COVID-19 negatively impacted their social needs with statistically significant differences observed for race, ethnicity, and insurance status. Many participants did not know of available social services, and a majority welcomed assistance from the ED.

Conclusion:

This study suggests that unmet social needs have risen because of COVID-19, and EDs may be positioned to identify and assist affected patients.