Screening for Health-Related Social Needs: A Comparison of CAHs and Non-CAHs

Abstract

Health-related social needs such as housing and food security have significant impacts on individual health and well-being. Screening patients for these needs in hospital and other clinical settings has been shown to have some positive impacts on health outcomes and decreasing hospital readmissions, and new quality measures encourage hospitals to screen patients for these needs. This brief describes collection and use of health-related social needs data among CAHs and non-CAHs using American Hospital Association data. This analysis focused on hospital screening for five health-related social needs: housing insecurity, food insecurity, utility needs, interpersonal violence, and transportation. CAHs were found to be less likely than non-CAHs to report collecting data on patients' health-related social needs, though this was somewhat mitigated by system membership and electronic health record (EHR) vendor. 

Topics

Health Equity MBQIP Social Drivers of Health