Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul 20;1(5):852-856.
doi: 10.1002/emp2.12191. eCollection 2020 Oct.

The terminology of social emergency medicine: Measuring social determinants of health, social risk, and social need

Margaret E Samuels-Kalow  1 , Gia E Ciccolo  1 , Michelle P Lin  2 , Elizabeth M Schoenfeld  3 , Carlos A Camargo Jr  1
Affiliations

The terminology of social emergency medicine: Measuring social determinants of health, social risk, and social need

Margaret E Samuels-Kalow et al. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. .

Abstract

Emergency medicine has increasingly focused on addressing social determinants of health (SDoH) in emergency medicine. However, efforts to standardize and evaluate measurement tools and compare results across studies have been limited by the plethora of terms (eg, SDoH, health-related social needs, social risk) and a lack of consensus regarding definitions. Specifically, the social risks of an individual may not align with the social needs of an individual, and this has ramifications for policy, research, risk stratification, and payment and for the measurement of health care quality. With the rise of social emergency medicine (SEM) as a field, there is a need for a simplified and consistent set of definitions. These definitions are important for clinicians screening in the emergency department, for health systems to understand service needs, for epidemiological tracking, and for research data sharing and harmonization. In this article, we propose a conceptual model for considering SDoH measurement and provide clear, actionable, definitions of key terms to increase consistency among clinicians, researchers, and policy makers.

Keywords: emergency medicine; social determinants of health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Terminology of SDoH. Across the top of the figure, SDoH and other factors combine to influence individual health outcomes. These outcomes, summed across the individuals, make up the health of the population. SDoH can be positive or adverse; adverse SDoH include both social risk (specific adverse social conditions associated with poor health) and social need (individual preferences and priorities regarding assistance). Both social risk and social need can be used to inform care and target assistance. Abbreviation: SDoH—social determinants of health
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Social determinants of health. World Health Organization. Available, at https://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/.) Accessed March 29, 2020. 2018.
    1. Gottlieb LM, Francis DE, Beck AF. Uses and misuses of patient‐ and neighborhood‐level social determinants of health data. Perm J. 2018;22:18‐078. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Measuring Social Determinants of Health among Medicaid Beneficiaries: Early State Lessons. Hamilton, NJ: Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., 2016.Available at https://www.chcs.org/media/CHCS-SDOH-Measures-Brief_120716_FINAL.pdf. Accessed March 7, 2020.
    1. Ash, AS , Mick E. UMass Risk Adjustment Project for MassHealth Payment and Care Delivery Reform: Describing the 2017 Payment Model Worcester, MA: Center for Health Policy and Research, UMass Medical School; https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/11/07/1610-umass-modeling-sdh-....) 2016.
    1. Billioux A, Verlander K, Anthony S, Alley D. Standardized screening for health‐related social needs in clinical settings: the accountable health communities screening tool. Discussion Paper, National Academy of Medicine. 2017.