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. 2025 Jan-Mar;48(1):39-51.
doi: 10.1097/JAC.0000000000000515. Epub 2024 Oct 10.

Signals in Health Inequity: Examining Social Needs and Costs in a Large Health System

Kevin P Fiori  1 , Samantha R Levano, Silvie Colman, Jason Oliveira, Jessica Haughton, Miya Lemberg, Earle C Chambers, Andrew Telzak, Elizabeth Spurrell-Huss, Adam Sirois, Allison Stark, Andrew Racine
Affiliations

Signals in Health Inequity: Examining Social Needs and Costs in a Large Health System

Kevin P Fiori et al. J Ambul Care Manage. 2025 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that social determinants of health are drivers of medical utilization, cost, and health outcomes. In this study, we compared the mean annual total cost to deliver health services per patient by health-related social need (HRSN) status and total HRSNs using linear regression and ANOVA, respectively. Patients with ≥1 HRSN (n = 8409) yielded $1772 higher annual costs compared to patients without HRSNs (n = 34 775) (P < .0001). Compared to patients without HRSNs, delivering care to patients with 1 HRSN (n = 4222) cost $1689 (P < .0001) more and to patients with ≥2 HRSN (n = 4187) cost $1856 (P < .0001) more per year.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: The authors have no conflicts of interests to report. This research was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2023-0258).

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