Recording and Presentation Slides from SIREN Methods Conversation on Natural Experiments 

The recording and presentation slides are now available from our September Methods Conversation where Miguel Marino PhD and Jorge Kaufmann ND, MS, reviewed different quantitative approaches to evaluating natural social care experiments.

#SaludTues with Salud America on Addressing Inadequate Transportation to Improve Health

Join us on X (formerly Twitter) on October 3rd at 10am PT for Salud America’s #SaludTues: “Addressing Inadequate Transportation to Improve Health”. We’re joining the National Rural Transit Assistance Program, Shared Use Mobility Center, and the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center to talk about how inadequate transportation impacts health and what we can do about it. Follow us on X @SIREN_UCSF.  

Gravity-Accepted Screening Assessment Instruments for SDOH

The Gravity Project is pleased to announce the release of social risk screening instruments determined to have face validity. Using valid measures to meet health-related social risks can facilitate targeted interventions and help health systems meet the requirements of new quality measures related to social screening. View the table of instruments here.

American Heart Association and Food is Medicine Initiative
The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its new Food Is Medicine Initiative. This RFP solicits proposals that will use input from the lived experiences of participants and practitioners to guide program design and ways to achieve significant short-term changes in healthy eating behavior. More detailed information can be found here. Applications open September 23, 2023.

Housing Solutions Lab at NYU Furman Center
The Housing Solutions Lab at NYU Furman Center is accepting applications for Catalyzing Housing and Health Collaborations in Small and Midsize Cities. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, selected teams will each receive $25,000 to conduct collaborative projects between housing and health stakeholders. Detailed information can be found here. Applications are due on October 23, 2023.

Webinars

Systems for Action: Effectiveness of Early Childhood Development Partnerships in Addressing Pediatric Health and Social Needs during COVID-19 Pandemic – October 11, 2023 | 9am PT/ 12pm ET

Systems for Action: Investigating Systems Alignment of Multi-Sector Agencies to Address Child Maltreatment in St. Louis – October 25, 2023 9am PT/ 12pm ET

Meetings & Conferences

North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Meeting – October 30-November 3, 2023 | San Francisco, CA | Registration now open

The Root Cause Coalition 8th Annual National Summit – December 3-5, 2023 | Kansas City, MO | Registration now open

Symposium on the Social and Structural Drivers of Health in Medical Education
Join Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and partners from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Collaboration for Education to Address the Social Determinants of Health (NCEAS) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine on December 8th from 8:30am-12pm PT to learn about the forces driving healthcare to better address health-related social needs and implications for medical education. This is a hybrid event. Register here. 

American Hospital Association: Accelerating Health Equity Conference – May 7-9, 2024 | Kansas City, MO | Call for content open until September 22, 2023. More information here.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 4Action Programs: Addressing Birth Equity and Family Wellbeing Through Cross-Sector Alignment and Policy Solutions – Originally broadcast August 30, 2023

Below we share multiple SIREN-relevant articles published since the last newsletter. For a full list, see the SIREN Evidence and Resource Library.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Awareness - Identifying Social Risks

Screening for Health-Related Social Needs and Collaboration With External Partners Among US Hospitals Ashe JJ, Baker MC, Alvarado CS, Alberti PM | JAMA Network Open

Developing a Brief Assessment of Social Risks for the Veterans Health Administration Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients Hausmann LRM, Cohen AJ, Eliacin J, et al. | Health Services Research 

SIREN Team note: This paper is among the first to examine the influence of “look-back” periods included in social risk screening questions. The authors asked whether the prevalence of reported risks would change based on the amount of time patients are asked to review, e.g., “Over the last 6 months, have you…?” After randomly assigning patients to screening questions that included either 6 or 12- month look-back periods, they found that patients in both groups reported similar rates of social risks.

Social Informatics

Integration of Social Determinants of Health Information Within the Primary Care Electronic Health Record: A Systematic Review of Patient Perspectives and Experiences Arroyave Caicedo NM, Parry E, Arslan N, Park S | BJGP Open

Evaluating the Comparability of Patient-Level Social Risk Data Extracted From Electronic Health Records: A Systematic Scoping Review Linfield GH, Patel S, Ko HJ, et al. | Health Informatics Journal

A Mixed-Methods Study to Evaluate the Feasibility and Acceptability of Implementing an Electronic Health Record Social Determinants of Health Screening Instrument into Routine Clinical Oncology Practice Hao SB, Jilcott Pitts SB, Iasiello J, et al. | Annals of Surgical Oncology

Social Determinants of Health Documentation in Structured and Unstructured Clinical Data of Patients With Diabetes: Comparative Analysis Mehta S, Lyles CR, Rubinsky AD, et al. | JMIR Medical Informatics

Assistance - Addressing Social Needs

Healthcare and Social Needs Assessment and Response Quality Among Black Men Bharmal N, Sack E, Guo N, et al. | Journal of Community Health

Hospital Readmissions by Variation in Engagement in the Health Care Hotspotting Trial: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial Yang Q, Wiest D, Davis AC, Truchil A, Adams JL | JAMA Network Open

SIREN Team note: This secondary analysis of the much publicized 2020 Health Care Hotspotting randomized clinical trial found that care management was associated with reduced readmissions among patients with higher likelihood of program participation. The authors suggest similar complex care programs consider either addressing barriers to participation or narrowing enrollment criteria to maximize program benefits. 

Read also Jeffrey Brenner’s reflections on the Camden Coalition’s care coordination approach here. 

Implementation of Social Isolation Screening and an Integrated Community Resource Referral Platform  Gunn R, Pisciotta M, Volk M, Bowen M, Gold R, Mossman N | Journal of American Board of Family Medicine

Effect of a Community Health Worker-Led Intervention Among Low-Income and Minoritized Patients With Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial Patel MI, Kapphahn K, Wood E, et al. | Journal of Clinical Oncology

Legal Needs and Health Outcomes for People with Cancer in Medical-Legal Partnership Programs: A Systematic Review Dowling AB, Jensen CS, Sweeney A, Dorris CS, Perry DF | Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

Practice Perspectives on Care Coordination in Rural Settings Kapp JM, Underwood B, Ressel K, Quinn K | Professional Case Management

A Descriptive Study of Screening and Navigation on Health-Related Social Needs in a Safety-Net Hospital Emergency Department Tubbs RE,  Warner L,  Shy BD,  Manikowski C,  Roosevelt GE | The American Journal of Emergency Medicine

Piloting a Prenatal Care Smartphone Application and Care Navigation Intervention at a Federally Qualified Health Center Vani K, Katehis I, Bernstein PS, et al. | American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 

Food Interventions

Impact of Produce Prescriptions on Diet, Food Security, and Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes: A Multisite Evaluation of 9 Produce Prescription Programs in the United States Hager K, Du M, Li Z, et al. | Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes

SIREN Team note: This large multisite evaluation found that produce prescriptions improved fruit and vegetable intake, food security, and health status for both adults and children.

Establishing a Permanent Food Pantry in a Pediatric Emergency Department  Anderson B, Lehto E, Hardin-Fanning F, et al. | Pediatrics

A Clinical-Community Partnership to Address Food Insecurity and Reduce Emergency Department Utilization Among Medicaid-Insured Patients in North Carolina Mayfield CA, Robinson-Taylor T, Rifkin D, Harris ME  | Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

A Coalition-Driven Examination of Organization Capacity to Address Food Insecurity in Greater Houston: A Qualitative Research Study John JC, Gonzalez J, Chan SG, et al. | Frontiers Public Health

Risk Adjustment 

Paying for Medical and Social Complexity in Massachusetts Medicaid Alcusky MJ, Mick EO, Allison JJ et al. | JAMA Network Open

Commentaries & Blogs

Medicaid is Emerging as a Big Player in Housing, but Success Depends on New Partnerships Reyneri DG | Health Affairs 

A Call for Health Justice: Striving Toward Health Equity at a Community Health Center Waite R, Nardi DA. | Family Process 

Subspecialty Pediatrics: An Unmet Opportunity to Address Unmet Social Risks Wadhwani SI, Pantell MS, Winestone LE | Academic Pediatrics

Reports & Policy Briefs

Meeting the Health and Social Needs of LGBTQ+ Older Adults Through Medicaid Phan M, Graham C, Moffett M, Flatt, J | California Health Care Foundation