Social Determinants of Health: Overcoming the Greatest Barriers to Patient Care

It is truly a groundbreaking moment for essential health needs initiatives. New, exciting efforts to address social determinants of health are underway across the country, such as the Center for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS)’s Accountable Health Communities model, payers and insurers’ reimbursement rates that include social needs, and original programs lead by innovative health systems.

Healthcare organizations, however, should avoid the conclusion that a community resource directory alone will solve every patient’s need. Patients may face several barriers to access resources: knowledge of what resources are available, complex benefit applications, cultural or language differences, and concerns about divulging sensitive information such as immigration status. You can be confident there are organizations and people in your community that can help patients access the resources they need to be healthy—but you must also get to know patients and track their outcomes to fully support their journeys to better health.