Google “Social Determinants of Health” and one will quickly discover a kind of litany of data pointing to a certain definition of “health” defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” and socioeconomic barriers, which may prohibit equitable access to good health and wellness (Healthcare) more completely among diverse populations.
Nevertheless, the heart of the matter is equitable access to good health and wellness. Meaning healthcare. However, such is not the case. Instead, healthcare is burdened by the very weight of the healthcare inequity both the institutions of healthcare and health policy foster. For as long as healthcare policy has existed within the US inequity in healthcare has existed. In an era of value-based care, which was designed, in part, to quell healthcare inequity there remains pockets of Fee For Service care delivery and ongoing discussions surrounding Block Grant Funding healthcare policy as an alternative to the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act.
Truth About Social Impact
It was not until healthcare delivery revenue erosion was linked to avoidable hospital readmissions associated with unaddressed Social Determinants did the US healthcare market begin to pivot on this subject, which is to say reimburse for the provision of community-based organization resources, i.e., Federal Government “Social Impact Partnership.” Concerning; the Social Impact Partnership will pay “regardless of whether outcomes have been met.” The $66,290,000 earmarked for the initiative is a drop in the well by comparison to the economic burden of healthcare inequity, which over a three year period extrapolated may generate an estimated at $1.4 Trillion avoidable deficit within the US economy.
While community resources, which serve the at-risk patient population, have long existed it was not until evidence of an ROI or return on investment was firmly linked to addressing SDoH did the US healthcare market initiate significant action towards investment in SDoH solutions. In 2018 “The ROI of Addressing Social Determinants of Health” became the most read article for this online publication during that year for the American Journal for Managed Care. Sitting at the table with company leaders who ultimately published this article I would introduce to them for the first time the idea and need for an SDoH ROI calculator, which was ultimately created. It was clear to me, based on my previous healthcare industry experience the SDoH ROI calculator was arguably the missing link to SDoH SaaS US healthcare market penetration. At that time the founding company leadership team, due to overly limited healthcare market or health economic knowledge were unaware of the value of a healthcare product or service cost-benefit or economic calculator in healthcare.
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Source: HIT Consultant
