Addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) is a key step in achieving equity in cardiovascular care, requiring investment by health systems, locally tailored plans and resources, and SDOH data “to anticipate patient needs and close care gaps,” according to a JACC State-of-the-Art Review published April 3.

Eric J. Brandt, MD, MHS, FACC, et al., assess five domains of SDOH – economic stability, education, health care access and quality, social and community context, and neighborhood and built environment – and identify strategies available to clinicians and health systems to address each category. As part of their analysis, they provide tables summarizing the assessment tools and key strategies to address each SDOH.

The authors highlight the need for health systems to invest in personnel – like social workers – trained in providing SDOH-appropriate resources and emphasize that solutions will be largely dependent on the resources present in the local community.

They additionally note that the documentation of International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision Z-codes in patients’ electronic health records should be used alongside assessment tools proposed in their review to “give way to meaningful public health interventions and systems actions.”

“One can expect that SDOH will continue to increase in relevance and integration of patient management; thus, applying the information herein to clinical and health systems will become increasingly commonplace,” state the authors.

Keywords: Electronics, Documentation, Built Environment, Public Health

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