Identifying and incorporating Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) data has become an important aspect of the healthcare industry, especially in the population health field. Being one of the top spenders in the healthcare industry worldwide, but unable to raise the quality of care outcomes, decision-makers understood that providing a higher quality of care alone doesn’t translate into complete health outcomes.
An individual’s health journey consists of various facets – Namely (1) Economic Stability, (2) Education, (3) Health and Health Care, (4) Neighborhood and Built Environment, and (5) Social and Community Context.
Most of these non-medical factors do not seem to provide much significance at a glance, but their importance is unmatched while directly relating to the health of an individual and that of a population. Information such as unemployment, food insecurity, lack of transportation, and improper housing facilities play a significant role in the health of an individual.
Therefore, policymakers are encouraged to consider these factors during their decision-making. They should think critically about their action plans and understand the effects caused by patients’ livelihood, education, and societal facilities. It will pave the way forward for health data equity.
Interoperability will make integration of SDoH data into clinical data smooth and efficient. It’ll facilitate SDoH data analytics, which will further help HIEs make proactive decisions and increase the outcomes of preventive and population health initiatives. Such reforms will benefit the patients and payers alike, as it improves the health of a community and leads to a healthier, happier population.
Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) are connected to a large number of providers, payers, social service workers, behavioral health clinics and individual practitioners. They also have a combined patient index and aggregated clinical, behavioral and SDoH data. Owing to this, HIEs are better positioned to lead the integration of SDoH data with clinical information. HIEs must therefore utilize the right technological solutions to integrate SDoH data and help deliver better healthcare outcomes.
Led by forward-thinkers, Aigilx Health’s RapidFire product suite is flexibly developed to support cross-sector data aggregation. Data from various fields such as education, profession, social community and law enforcement can be integrated as per the need to have a holistic view of the patient.
Aigilx health specializes in developing Interoperability solutions to create a healthcare ecosystem and aids in the delivery of efficient, patient-centric and population-focused healthcare.
