{"id":68737,"date":"2021-08-02T08:47:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T15:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qualityhealth.org\/bree\/?p=68737"},"modified":"2021-08-02T08:47:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T15:47:22","slug":"sdohandequity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qualityhealth.org\/bree\/2021\/08\/02\/sdohandequity\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Action on SDOH and Equity"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As we get a glimpse of the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel this summer, I think back to the early stages of the pandemic when celebrities, government officials, and media framed the viral outbreak as the \u201cgreat equalizer<\/a>.\u201d A virus is incapable of discrimination, and many people (mostly coming from a place of privilege) believed SARS-COV-2 would transcend wealth, fame, race, and age. Instead, the effects of COVID-19 were informed by our country\u2019s social institutions, and we witnessed health and social outcomes stratified by race, class, and age. We watched as the pandemic followed well-worn patterns filtered through the prisms of social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity.<\/p>\n

We know that SDOH, conditions in which we are \u201cborn, live, work, and play\u201d<\/a> contribute more to health outcomes than the delivery of clinical services. At the same time, preventable and unjust inequities in care<\/a>, especially due to racism, lead to worse health outcomes for people of color. The undeniable impact of SDOH and health equity is often included in high-level conversations by policy experts and C-suite executives, but goes largely unacknowledged during a patient\u2019s clinical care visit. Last year the Foundation for Health Care Quality took on the challenge to develop a community standard for assessing and addressing social determinants and health equity in clinical care.<\/p>\n

In our workgroup conversations and key stakeholder interviews, we explored a rapidly evolving health and social service ecosystem with emerging best practices, technologies, and cross-sector partnerships. We heard from health systems integrating community information exchanges into their workflows<\/a>, pilot programs working at the intersection of health and social services<\/a>, and health plans developing innovative mechanisms to improve health equity<\/a>. We quickly found that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to addressing health equity and social determinants, and instead developed a framework with five focus areas to target future activities. These focus areas include Planning, Identification, Tracking and Measurement, Follow-Up, and Incentives and Investments. We hope our initial work will help guide our state toward future collaboration and integration of health and social services.<\/p>\n

While we continue to drive our health system to address holistic healthcare, you can read our final report,<\/a> which was adopted by the Bree Collaborative in May 2021, and review our quick one-page summary<\/a>. We look forward to future collaboration to improve the health and well-being of all Washingtonians!<\/p>\n

Nick Locke, MPH
\nProgram Coordinator, Foundation for Health Care Quality[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As we get a glimpse of the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel this summer, I think back to the early stages of the pandemic when celebrities, government…","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t