Social determinants of health (SDOH) are defined as conditions in the places where people live, learn, work and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of life-risks and outcomes. SDOH — such as housing, food security and economic stability — can have a tremendous impact on healthcare outcomes and costs. More than one-quarter (28%) of Americans have endured health risks stemming from unmet social needs, and Americans who report experiencing unmet social needs in the past year are twice as likely to rate their health as fair or poor.
Approximately 80% of contributors to health outcomes are actually non-medical, and can instead be attributed to environment, behavior and genetics. As such, providers and health plan organizations are increasingly looking for ways to address SDOH to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs and enhance their efficiency. To support social determinants of health needs, acute providers need local resources at their fingertips.
Using CarePort’s new offering, CM Neighborhood, acute providers can automate the referral process to a designated network of local, community-based organizations (CBOs) relevant to their geographic area. To connect patients with the appropriate SDOH services, CM Neighborhood offers a maintained directory of commonly-used, local social services organizations – which helps to reduce staff time spent updating lists and contact information. CM Neighborhood enables providers to better support patients’ social determinant needs, such as food, housing, substance abuse and mental health, and can reduce patient reliance on hospitals and emergency departments.
Leveraging the CM Neighborhood module within CarePort Care Management, acute providers can comprehensively meet patients’ medical and non-medical needs with closed-loop referrals. A designated network of local CBOs will receive CarePort Referral Management to ensure that they can communicate back-and-forth with the hospital and receive relevant patient data to appropriately screen and place the patient – ultimately enabling improved referral completion rates.
All within one application, providers can holistically manage care transitions and support whole person care. SDOH can have a significant impact on patient outcomes and healthcare costs; equip your organization with CM Neighborhood to meet patients’ social determinants needs, improve efficiencies and lower costs.
Learn more about CM Neighborhood, or request a demo.
