Integrating Social Needs Care into the Delivery of Health Care to Improve the Nation's Health: Potential Social Work Research Contributions

An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examined the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes and to address major challenges facing the U.S. health care system. These challenges, include persisting disparities in health outcomes among vulnerable subpopulations, often defined by a number of factors including race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status. Presenters will present, discuss and share recommendation for social work researchers to consider that include: 1) approaches currently being taken by health care providers and systems, and new or emerging approaches and opportunities and 2) current and emerging efforts to inform the design of an effective and efficient care system that improves the nation's health and reduces health inequities. Specifically, presenters will discuss the realized and potential contributions of social needs care to make health care delivery systems more community based, person- and family/caregiver-centered, and responsive to social and structural determinants of health, particularly for vulnerable populations and communities, such as low-income families and the kinds of transdisciplinary research and dissemination needed to understand the complex interplay of psychosocial and environmental factors on health, optimize the effectiveness of social services to improve health and health care, and best to inform efforts to develop policies and practices that lead to improved health outcomes. Examples for each of the areas will be included.