SDOH Buyer’s Guide Checklist: What’s in a Needs Assessment Screening?

The following article is part of our Market Primer Series. It is based on an excerpt from our 2018 Social Innovation Technology Buyer’s Guide report.

Assessing and documenting patients’ social, legal, financial, or other non-clinical needs services as a critical first step to understanding how best to address these needs in an organized, accountable way. Traditionally, when patients’ non-clinical needs have been assessed at all, they’ve been surveyed in an ad-hoc manner, focused more on high-risk patients who are already admitted to a hospital or care program, rather then systematically at the community level before injury or ill- ness occurs.

Where and when patients are screened for social needs varies greatly, based on the type of organization and department, the nature of insurance coverage involved, and other variables. According to a survey of hospital executives, SDOH screenings are mostly focused on admitted inpatients as well as high-utilization patients, rather than lower risk populations in community-based settings. While most hospitals (88 percent) report some level of screenings, only 62 percent do so systematically or consistently.

Numerous screening tools have emerged over the last decade, developed by an array of academic organizations with input from public…