Low-Intensity Social Care and Child Acute Health Care Utilization: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Social Determinants of Health
• Pediatric Healthcare

Background:

• Social care interventions can potentially reduce acute healthcare utilization.
• CommunityRx is a low-intensity, high-scale social care assistance program.
• Evaluating its impact on pediatric patients and their caregivers is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of the CommunityRx intervention.
• To determine its impact on healthcare utilization and caregiver self-efficacy.
• To analyze outcomes in food-insecure (FI) and food-secure (FS) subgroups.

Main Methods:

• A double-blind randomized clinical trial involving caregivers of hospitalized children.
• Intervention group received usual care plus CommunityRx (education, resource navigation, text support).
• Primary outcome was caregiver self-efficacy; secondary outcomes included child health and acute care visits.

Main Results:

• The intervention significantly reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations in the food-insecure subgroup.
• Caregiver self-efficacy for finding resources did not differ significantly between groups.
• The intervention did not impact outcomes in the food-secure subgroup.

Conclusions:

• A social care intervention initiated during pediatric hospitalization may reduce acute healthcare use.
• CommunityRx shows promise in mitigating healthcare disparities for food-insecure families.
• Further research is needed to enhance caregiver self-efficacy outcomes.