NEW Patient Experience of Social Care Measure 

Existing quality metrics related to social care have predominantly focused on social care quantity (e.g., % of patients screened for social risks, % provided resources). With support from Kaiser Permanente, SIREN developed and validated a complementary patient experience measure related to healthcare-based social care. The brief Patient Experience of Social Care Measure is a valid, flexible, and practical tool for assessing patients’ experiences of social care that can be used to inform improvements in social care. 

We Want to Hear From You!

Do you have study findings stashed away that you never published about the impacts of a healthcare-based social needs referral and navigation intervention? The SIREN team is working on a new systematic review that will describe the impacts of social needs referral and navigation interventions across the US (see more here: review protocol on PROSPERO.) To mitigate publication bias, we are currently looking for unpublished results from relevant work. If you have a study that you think might fit the bill or any questions, please reach out to Alejandra at alejandra.gonzalezrocha@ucsf.edu.

Join SIREN at Camden Coalition's Putting Care at the Center 2026 Conference

SIREN is a planning partner for the research and evaluation track at this year’s Putting Care at the Center 2026 – being held on October 14-16, 2026 in Oakland CA. Please consider submitting workshop proposals on social interventions evaluation topics relevant for complex care populations. Workshops are due March 4th, 2026. For more information click here.

NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Public Comment period is now open and accepting submissions through March 13th. Organizations and individuals can submit their comments on the NCQA website: HEDIS® Public Comment 2026 - NCQA.

Webinars

Manatt Health: Leveraging H.R. 1’s Affordable Housing Provisions for Housing and Health Initiatives – March 4, 2026 | 1pm PT/4pm ET

Weill Cornell Medicine: Addressing Drivers of Health: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next – March 25, 2026 | 1pm PT/4pm ET

Meetings & Conferences

American Hospital Association: 2026 AHA Annual Membership Meeting  
– April 19-21, 2026 | Washington, D.C.

Health Experiences Research Network: Health Experiences Research 1.0 Hybrid Training – May 18-20, 2026 | Albuquerque, NM & virtual 

AcademyHealth: 2026 Annual Research Meeting – May 30-June 2, 2026 | Seattle, WA

Camden Coalition: Putting Care at the Center 2026 – October 14-16, 2026 | Oakland, CA 

NAPCRG: 54th Annual Meeting – November 24-26, 2025 | Toronto, Canada

Systems for Action: ACCESS: Aligning Community Care through Embedded School-Based Systems – Originally broadcast January 28, 2026 

Systems for Action: Participatory Budgeting for Health Equity: A Unified, Multisectoral Approach – Originally broadcast February 4, 2026 

SIREN: Quality over Quantity: Developing New Measures to Assess Patients' Experiences of Social Care – Originally broadcast February 12, 2026

Center for Health Care Strategies: Expanding Access to Community Health Workers in Rural Communities – Originally broadcast February 18, 2026

Center For Health Care Strategies: Contingency Management Programs: State Lessons from Planning to Scaling – Originally broadcast February 24, 2026

In our Research Round-Up we share multiple SIREN-relevant articles published since our last newsletter. For a full list, see the SIREN Evidence and Resource Library. As always, if you are aware of resources that you think should be added to the library, please send them our way. 

Below are three studies published this month that we found particularly interesting. 

Health Care Outcomes of Homelessness Prevention Programs in Veterans Experiencing Housing Instability Nelson RE, Chapman AB, Montgomery AE, et al. | JAMA Health Forum

Over 220,000 veterans enrolled in Supportive Services for Veteran Families had significantly lower inpatient costs and mortality rates compared with those not enrolled.

Improving Health-Related Social Needs Screening and Support Across a Pediatric Health Care System Laroia R, Minor W, Carr A, et al. | Pediatrics

This study describes the implementation supports and quality improvement process that led Atrium Health in North Carolina to increase its social risk screening and assistance rate from 12% to 92% over the course of 3 years. 

Feasibility of an Indigenous Food Is Medicine Program for Patients with Heart Failure in Rural Navajo Nation: The MUTTON-HF Nonrandomized Clinical Trial Eberly LA, George C, Sandman S, et al. | JAMA Network Open

Read the accompanying commentary here

Incorporating Indigenous recipes and locally-sourced Native food for patients with heart failure in the rural Navajo Nation was feasible and acceptable. These results can support the design and adaptation of similar models by other tribal communities.

Other New Resources

New social care implementation tools

Implementation Tools for Housing-Related Community Supports The Housing Community Supports Implementation Advisory Committee | California Health Care Foundation

Produce Prescription Incentive Technology Directory | UCSF Seligman Research Team

Publications on social risk screening and documentation

How High-Performing Community Health Clinics Accomplish Social Risk Screening Ackerman SL, Wing H, Pisciotta M, Hessler Jones D, Gottlieb LM |Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

Development of the Self-Administered Health Complexity Screening Instrument Specker S, Andrew R, Drexler E, Koithan E, Thurber S, Frankel S | Professional Case Management [In addition to medical and psychiatric items, this tool incorporates multiple social determinants of health, known to add to clinical complexity.]

Development and Validation of a 1-Item Very Low Food Security Screen Poblacion A, Sheward R, Ettinger de Cuba S | Health Affairs Scholar

Recent Advances in Our Understanding of Electronic Health Record-Based Social Needs Screening and Documentation in Pediatrics LeLaurin JH, Zhao B, De La Cruz J, et al. | Academic Pediatrics

Caregiver Experiences with Inpatient Health-Related Social Needs Screening Stokes S, Latta H, Gayle T, et al. | Hospital Pediatrics

Fewer Screens, Greater Needs: Housing Insecurity and Healthcare Costs for Transgender Patients in a Safety-Net System Breslow AS, Babbs G, Cavic E, et al. | Health Affairs Scholar

ICD-10 Codes Used in Pediatric Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence Sayeem M, Shum M, Ryus C, Powers E, Randell KA, Tiyyagura G | Academic Pediatrics

Publications about improving social resource connections

"The Resources are There, It's Just Not Sufficient”: Primary Care Team Members and their Experiences with Connecting Patients to Needed Resources Rodriguez J, Ravi T, Thompson EL, Ferrer RL | Journal of Primary Care & Community Health

Forming Community Partnerships to Create Social Needs Referral Programs Kovaric K, Earp A, Desai S, et al. | Hospital Pediatrics

Publications about food security/food-is-medicine interventions

Household and Pediatric Inpatient Food Insecurity: Analysis and Implications for National Efforts Jungbauer RM, Connor A, Garwood A, Woods ML, Vaz LE | Hospital Pediatrics

Voices From the Field: Individual Leaders Share Their Stories of Food is Medicine Ridberg R, Callahan EA, Chen S, et al. | American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine

The Future of Nutrition Interventions in Medicaid Hager K, Berkowitz SA | JAMA Internal Medicine

Publications about housing-related interventions

Nursing Leadership in Housing First Implementation: A Comparative Analysis of Care Coordination Approaches Across Four U.S. States Kyei EF, Mumba MN | Nursing Outlook

Publications about transportation-related interventions

Beyond the No-Show: A Case Study Highlighting the Hidden Scope of Barriers to Radiotherapy Adherence in Cancer Care Biggins CA, Kirstein LJ, Reilly E, et al. | Surgery

Publications about social care payment policy

Early Adoption of Services for Health-Related Social Needs in Medicare Billig JI, Joo JH, Cardin JR, et al. | JAMA Health Forum

Social Determinants of Health Under the Trump Administration - Good as Well as Bad News Butler, SM | JAMA Health Forum 

Addressing Patients’ Social Determinants of Health Is Important to Caregivers Jacobs, S | NEJM Catalyst