Starting your first SDOH project should focus on a small limited group of people that have similar SDOH conditions that you want to pilot.  This allows quick testing of your processes and procedures including how to engage with your population and 3rd party agencies.  

Let’s use Food Insecurity as an Example SDOH project.

First, count the total number of people that you have identified as having a food related SDOH condition.  Then determine how many people you can include in this pilot project based on your estimated costs.  

50 people enrolled with an average monthly budget of $100 per month is $5,000 per month with a 6 month total budget.

Now determine your project goals within this budget.  Examples include providing meal kits that are shelf stable to provide food options that otherwise would not exists?  Another example could be providing healthier food choices to improve overall food quality?

Engage with partners to see who can assist with the food insecurity goals of your project.  You may find partners that can provide financial support to increase your monthly budget.  Other partners may provide food options that you can be delivered.  Could you partner with local farmers markets to get fresh vegetables that may otherwise go bad?

Once you have your budget, goals and partners (if applicable).  Reach out to your population to see who would like to be enrolled in the project to receive help with food insecurity. 

Track and monitor individuals SDOH conditions with SDOH software.  This enables you to analyze who is in this project to monitor its impact over time.

Month by month get feedback from the individuals enrolled to see what is working and what is not to improve their food insecurity.

At the end of the 6 months, review the overall project and goals.  What worked well?  What did not work as expected?  Did food insecurity improve during this project for the participants?  

SDOH projects are an ongoing process.  Once you have the experience from your first project.  The next project can continue the existing project.  Or start a new project based on different SDOH conditions.

How are you starting Social Determinants of Health Projects?