The findings indicate that while most hospitals are collecting social needs data, far fewer are collecting it routinely.
Hospitals are not collecting social determinants of health (SDoH) data regularly enough to put it to use, according to a recent data brief from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
To evaluate how non-federal acute care hospitals collect, receive, and use patients’ SDoH data, ONC researchers analyzed data from the American Hospital Association Information Technology’s 2022 nationally representative survey.
While 83 percent of the hospitals did report collecting social needs data, the number of them doing so routinely dropped to 54 percent, with routine screenings the least frequent among the lower resourced hospitals such as small, rural, and independent hospitals. About 60 percent of the hospitals reported electronically receiving patients’ SDoH data from external sources.
Hospitals are in an important position to help address SDoH, especially in vulnerable communities, explained researchers. “If left unaddressed, the social needs experienced by an individual may lead to poor health outcomes and more time spent in hospitals and interacting with the health care system,” wrote the authors in a blog post about the study. “Hospitals, therefore, are uniquely situated to help address social needs and mitigate social risk factors by screening for social needs, assisting with transitions of care, and making connections to social service organizations.”
Additional study findings include:
- Of the hospitals that reported collecting SDoH data, the most common collection method was a structured electronic screening tool (74 percent), followed by free-text notes (36 percent), diagnosis codes (29 percent), and non-electronic methods (20 percent).
- Of the hospitals that used structured electronic screening tools, 41 percent used a combination of customized and home-grown tools and externally established tools.
- Government and non-profit hospitals were much more likely to collect SDoH data using a structured screening tool or diagnoses codes compared to for-profit hospitals.
- Health Information Exchange (HIE) organizations were the most common method that hospitals electronically received SDoH data from external sources, followed by social service or community-based referral platforms.
- About 40 percent of the hospitals said they did not receive SDoH data from any external sources.
- SDoH data collected internally and received from external sources were used for population health analytics (48 percent and 32 percent, respectively), as well as to inform community needs assessments for other equity initiatives (46 percent and 28 percent, respectively).
- Forty-two percent of hospitals used SDoH data collected internally for quality management purposes, and 25 percent of hospitals reported using SDoH data received from external sources for screening purposes within their hospital.
“While our findings suggest social needs data are largely collected in a structured format, future work should assess the extent to which data elements in structured screening tools are mapped to existing standards (e.g., LOINC, ICD-10-CM) as this would enable exchange and use of these data,” wrote researchers. “Continuous measurement of providers’ use of screening instruments will be critical to identifying opportunities to increase the usage of validated and standardized screening tools that align with CMS guidance.”