Signals in health inequity: Examining social needs and costs in a large health system

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.