Hospital-Based Interventions Addressing Social Needs: A Systematic Narrative Review.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Social Determinants of Health
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Healthcare systems globally are implementing screening and referral programs to address patients' social needs.
• Interventions range from 'light-touch' resource lists to 'high-touch' Health Navigator support.
• Current understanding of integration, workflows, and outcomes of these hospital-based interventions is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the integration of social needs screening and referral interventions within hospital settings.
• To explore the workflows, barriers, and enablers associated with these interventions.
• To analyze the effects of these interventions on medical and social outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A systematic narrative review employing narrative synthesis.
• Searches conducted across major health and social science databases and grey literature.
• Data collection and analysis occurred between January 2023 and August 2024.

Main Results:

• All 37 included studies were conducted in the U.S. across various hospital settings.
• Moderate study quality; limited methodological data on screening and referral workflows.
• High-touch interventions often underreported data; Health Navigator roles were inconsistent.
• Few studies reported social needs outcomes, with mixed intervention effects.

Conclusions:

• Prioritize detailed methodological reporting and in-depth protocols for future research.
• Consistently report social needs outcomes to assess benefits for disadvantaged populations.
• Apply trauma-informed principles to the collection and storage of social needs data.