The social determinants of health (SDoH), conditions in which we live, work, and play, contribute ~40% to our overall health and length of life. A person’s experience of racism and other forms of discrimination in healthcare services are embedded within social determinants and have high physical and emotional health costs contributing to health disparities. While social needs, racism, and other forms of discrimination have a large impact on health, they are largely unacknowledged during a patient’s clinical visit. In 2021, the Foundation for Health Care Quality, through the Bree Collaborative, developed a recommendation framework for addressing social need and health equity in clinical spaces.
Social Need and Health Equity Steering Committee
In 2022, the Foundation for Health Care Quality decided to turn our previous recommendations into collaborative action. In January 2021, the Foundation convened a Steering Committee of health and social sector experts from healthcare delivery systems, insurers, purchasers, public health agencies, and community advocates. A full list of Steering Committee members is available here. The Steering Committee identified four priority areas for further work to develop reports including:
The Steering Committee has convened ad-hoc workgroups to address each priority area. Each workgroups met monthly though June 2023. Staring in August 2023, the Steering Committee meets monthly to support the implementation of the reports into practice. For more information about each workgroup click here.
Funding
The Foundation’s Social Need and Health Equity work is funded through a grant from the Washington Healthcare Forum in partnership with One Health Port. The Steering Committee will continue work through at least the end of 2023.