{"title":"A Standardized Protocol for Assessing and Addressing Social Determinants of Health.","authors":"Mary D Chenge, Dianne Conrad","doi":"10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000918","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Assessing and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) is essential to improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs.</p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>Although SDOH screening tools exist, many health care organizations lack a standardized process for assessing and addressing social needs.</p><p><strong>Approach: </strong>A structured process was developed to increase SDOH screenings, social work referrals, and reimbursement. This included an organizational assessment, selection of an evidence-based screening tool, protocol development, and implementation using the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework.</p><p><strong>Outcomes: </strong>To review the outcomes of implementing a standardized process for addressing SDOH, a quality improvement project at a primary care clinic was reviewed showing improvement in screenings, referrals, and reimbursements for billable screenings.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Implementing a standardized SDOH protocol can improve patient outcomes, reduce unnecessary health care visits, and increase reimbursements for organizations. Continued evaluation is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":16931,"journal":{"name":"Journal of nursing care quality","volume":"41 2","pages":"119-127"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of nursing care quality","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000918","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/10/14 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Assessing and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) is essential to improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs.
Problem: Although SDOH screening tools exist, many health care organizations lack a standardized process for assessing and addressing social needs.
Approach: A structured process was developed to increase SDOH screenings, social work referrals, and reimbursement. This included an organizational assessment, selection of an evidence-based screening tool, protocol development, and implementation using the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework.
Outcomes: To review the outcomes of implementing a standardized process for addressing SDOH, a quality improvement project at a primary care clinic was reviewed showing improvement in screenings, referrals, and reimbursements for billable screenings.
Conclusion: Implementing a standardized SDOH protocol can improve patient outcomes, reduce unnecessary health care visits, and increase reimbursements for organizations. Continued evaluation is needed.
期刊介绍：
Journal of Nursing Care Quality (JNCQ) is a peer-reviewed journal that provides practicing nurses as well as nurses who have leadership roles in nursing care quality programs with useful information regarding the application of quality principles and concepts in the practice setting. The journal offers a forum for the scholarly discussion of “real world” implementation of quality activities.
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