How health systems can use data-informed strategies to address social needs in local communities

COVID-19 put a spotlight on health equity and the importance of addressing disparities in social determinants of health. While many health systems have made substantial commitments to health equity, there is a pressing need to ensure these commitments yield results and drive even more action.

In a Vizient-sponsored virtual featured session during Becker's Hospital Review 11th Annual Meeting in May, Shaifali Ray, senior director at Vizient, Kellie Goodson, director at Vizient, and Karyl Kopaskie, associate principal at Sg2, discussed COVID-19, health equity and steps health systems can take to address disparities.

Three takeaways:

1. Health equity and disparities are more relevant than ever. COVID-19 directly affected lower socioeconomic groups through greater spread among vulnerable populations, higher exposure in minimum wage jobs and access issues among the uninsured. Analysis by Vizient found that while Black and Hispanic patients represent about 30 percent of the U.S. population, they account for nearly 40 percent of COVID-related diagnoses and have disproportionately higher COVID hospitalizations, ICU stays and hospital mortality.

COVID-19 also amplified existing disparities. Ms. Ray stated, "We're continuing to see very significant gaps across the country as it relates to unemployment, homelessness, food insecurity, mental health and other types of illnesses. We're seeing that the populations affected by these situations are people of color."

2. Health systems must determine their "scope of ambition" for addressing SDOH. Prior to the pandemic, 57 health systems committed about $2.5 billion to addressing social needs and SDOH, with commitments in education, employment and housing. But Ms. Kopaskie emphasized, "There is an opportunity for those commitments to be even greater." In looking at ways in which health systems can invest to pursue their ambitions, options include addressing inequities though discrete clinical interventions, aligning partners and leveraging data to tackle needs beyond the medical setting and being an anchor institution that impacts health by collaborating to improve underlying determinants in a community.

3. After determining their scope of ambition, health systems can take meaningful actions. Ms. Goodson shared data indicating that health equity is frequently written into strategic plans (by 71 percent of health systems) but measuring the impact of actions taken to address health disparities is less common (only 41 percent). One of the barriers, explained Ms. Goodson, is that health systems "need to become more sophisticated at being able to identify and address social determinants of health."

Among the actions for health systems to take include "knowing thyself," said Ms. Kopaskie, by assessing the current organizational structure and the organization's ability to deliver on current and emerging needs in an institution's community. Part of "knowing thyself" is assessing whether the organization has mastered use of its existing data and is effectively leveraging its existing data sources — such as data from the health system's EHR — to identify problems related to social determinants of health. Other necessary actions include developing metrics to measure the success of social needs initiatives and identifying opportunities for external collaborations and partnerships.

In light of the various pressures on health systems to play a role in addressing social needs and health disparities, systems will be expected to make investments and use data to drive decisions and make a meaningful difference in their communities.

To view the session on-demand, click here.

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