Transitioning to value-based healthcare models comes with growing pains. In particular, the issue arises of how to best treat patients within a value-based model that 1. keeps patients healthy, and 2. allows the risk-based organization to financially work. At that intersection is where social determinants of health (SDoH) come into play.
Research documents the impact of SDoH on health outcomes, making consideration of them essential for treating patients comprehensively and effectively. Success includes considering SDoH in a way that both drives patient health outcomes and increases a risk-based organization’s bottom line.
Providers have a lot on their plates, with burnout lingering from the pandemic and staffing shortages throughout the industry. With emerging incentives that prioritize SDoH, neither providers nor ROI have to be sacrificed for the sake of delivering value-based care.
Systems that incorporate SDoH at the onset allow for holistic evaluation of each patient. Successful ones deliver personalized intervention recommendations built on each person’s unique SDoH, making the recommendations more relevant – and thus more effective.
Here’s how that translates to successful value-based care delivery: a system considers SDoH from the onset, rather than a non-billable service. As a result, the models can deliver customized, evidenced-based targeted intervention recommendations for each patient to the provider. With each new patient, the platform dynamically adjusts, so the provider always has up-to-date, relevant recommendations for patients. This helps with delivering quality comprehensive care that accounts for the SDoH factors impacting patients, so they stay healthier. All of this adds up to better health outcomes for patients, improved measurable ROI for the risk-bearing organization, and providers who have a platform that works for them.
Such support is how we clear the road for risk-bearing organizations to be successful as we move towards a value-based framework.
