Clinically Screening Hospital Patients for Social Risk Factors Across Multiple Hospitals: Results and Implications...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Public Health
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Hospitals increasingly screen patients for social risk factors to enhance patient and population health.
• Screening data informs social need interventions, hospital-community collaborations, and investment decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the frequency of social risk factors in admitted patients.
• To determine if social risk factors differ across hospitals within a health system.
• To assess the feasibility of standardized community-level social need interventions.

Main Methods:

• Described the development and implementation of Northwell Health's social risk factor screening module.
• Analyzed data from 12 New York City/Long Island hospitals (June 2019–January 2020).
• Used chi-square and Friedman tests to compare social risk factor frequencies and rank orders across hospitals.

Main Results:

• 6.6% of unique patients screened positive for social needs, averaging 2.3 factors per patient.
• Challenges paying bills were the most common social risk factor (29.4%).
• The frequency of 12 of 13 social risk factors differed significantly across hospitals, with significant variance in rank order.

Conclusions:

• Hospital patients' social needs exhibit significant variation within a metropolitan area.
• Tailored, local considerations are essential for effective social need interventions.
• Developing targeted hospital-community partnerships is crucial for addressing diverse patient needs.