Building a Better Evidence Base to Address the Social Determinants of Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the pressing need to address social determinants of health (SDOH). NPC's Dr. Dubois examines the gaps within the existing evidence base and how to improve study design quality through formal guidelines for conducting and evaluating SDOH studies.
August 12, 2021
The association between social determinants and health care outcomes is clear. But it's less clear how to assess the impact of social need interventions, including their financial impact. A recent NPC-supported study points to a key challenge. Conducted by the Research Consortium for Health Care Value Assessment, a partnership between Altarum and VBID Health, the research revealed that most studies of social need interventions were poorly designed, inadequately documented, and inconsistently presented.
In a guest blog post for Academy Health, NPC's Chief Science Officer and Executive Vice President, Robert W. Dubois, MD, PhD, outlines the state of the research and provides recommendations for improving study design quality, to ensure our health system works best for vulnerable populations.
Read Dr. Dubois' full blog post on the AcademyHealth website