Getting to Know What are Social Determinants of Health

With the release of the Healthy People 2030 objectives by the US Department of Health and Human Services.  Social determinants of health (SDOH) are becoming more important and are taking a more prominent role in healthcare education and outcomes.  Medical data is showing that improving social determinants leads to healthier populations and public health.  From a Payer perspective, decreased medical claim costs can be realized when social determinants are improved for some members.  For Providers, social determinants can lead to better health literacy and education on medical conditions to improve health outcomes as well.

To improve public health what areas of an individual can be improved to help improve the health of a local community and the population as a whole.  That is the goal of understanding what are social determinants of health.  What conditions do people live in that are negatively impacting their ability to have a healthy life?  

Common issues that affect everyone are (food, shelter, clothing), education, employment, transportation and neighborhood safety.  As a public health organization what can you do to partner with other organizations to improve these conditions?  At this level you are trying to identify pockets individuals withing your local community that have similar issues and improve their conditions.  This process will take time and you will want to monitor your effort against claims costs and overall community health.

• What are you currently doing with SDOH data?
• What do you want to do with SDOH data?
• What agencies can you partner with to improve local health?
• What are the largest SDOH issues your panel or members face?

Now that you know what are social determinants of health.  What can you organization do to start improving one life, then two, then four?

5 Core Areas of Social Determinants of Health

While the underlying conditions and exact details can vary.  Generally there are 5 core areas that social determinants of health are grouped into to better understand their impact on public health.

What are social determinants of health core data areas?

1. Education
2. Economic Stability
3. Healthcare and Access
4. Neighborhood
5. Social and Community

Read our blog on Social Determinants of Health data for full details.