In our Research Round-Up we share multiple SIREN-relevant articles published since our last newsletter. For a full list, see the SIREN Evidence and Resource Library. As always, if you are aware of resources that you think should be added to the library, please send them our way.
April Research Highlights
Massachusetts Medicaid Housing Supports Reduced Health Care Costs Among Adults with Behavioral Health Conditions Sabatino MJ, Hager K, Ash A, et al. | Health Affairs
One of the first evaluations of a statewide Medicaid housing supports program. Receipt of housing supports among adults with behavioral health conditions reduced per person health care costs, ED visits, and readmissions. Additional details in the final summative report for MA’s first waiver (2017-2022), published in January 2026.
Designing Medically Tailored Meal Interventions: The Food as Medicine for Families (FAME-F) Factorial Randomized Clinical Trial Berkowitz SA, Nguyen J, Dagley C, Ali A, et al. | Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
No statistically significant differences in diet outcomes were seen between providing MTM to entire household vs. just to the eligible individual. No loneliness differences were seen between in person vs. mailed food delivery.
Approaches to Identifying Social Needs: The SECURE RCT Cullen D, Brown R, McPeak K, et al. | Pediatrics
Caregivers of pediatric patients were more likely to share desires for social needs assistance if offered a resource menu than through social risk screening. The accompanying commentary (To Screen or Not to Screen? Future Considerations for Social Care Intervention Delivery Leary JC, Branley CE, Garg A) highlights that offering assistance without screening may reduce stigma but may also remove opportunities for providers to build trust and to adjust care based on social needs. For more on this topic see this recent SIREN webinar.
Social Risk-Informed Decision Support and Blood Pressure Control in a Primary Care Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial McGrath BM, Gold R, Donovan J, Watkins A, et al. | Annals of Family Medicine
Access to EHR-integrated social clinical decision support tools was associated with increased documentation of social risks and greater improvement in BP control but had no impact on HbA(1c) levels.
Intervention Effectiveness Studies
Design and Early Evaluation of a Social Care Network's Impact on Health Care Costs Galper K, Miguel C, LeJeune K, Rung J, et al. | Health Affairs Scholar
Healthcare Utilization Following Implementation of a Pediatric Social Needs Screening Program Gibson A, Riggs-Harpur K, Jafry M, Mathur A, et al. | Journal of Primary Care and Community Health
Implementation and Costs of a Food Insecurity Resource Navigation Program for Primary Care Patients with Diabetes and Hypertension in South Carolina Gupta D, Thomas D, Self S, Frongillo EA, et al. | Preventive Medicine Reports
Team-Based Pilot Program Incorporates Food Vouchers to Improve Health in Patients with Diabetes Ainooson J, Gregory B, Sherwin EB, et al. | Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
Patients’ and Providers’ Experiences with Social Care
Beyond Capacity: Qualitative Stakeholder Perspectives on Demand for Health-Related Social Needs Navigation Through Patient Self-Navigation Tools Gago CM, De Leon E, Zhang L | BMC Health Services Research
Caregiver Perceptions of Social Need Documentation Brown R, DeMarco M, Cullen D | JAMA Network Open
It’s Part of Dialysis: Lived Experiences of Transportation Challenges Among Patients and Staff in In-Center Hemodialysis Bonilla-Herrera MA, Saini N, Corina I, et al.| The Journal of Nephrology Social Work
“Stress Off Our Shoulders”: A Qualitative Pilot Study of a Neonatal Medical-Legal Partnership Klawetter S, Mutrie L, Lenne E, et al. | Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics
Identifying Social Risks
Beyond Metrics to Methods: A Scoping Review of Transformers and Large Language Models for Detection of Social Drivers of Health in Clinical Notes Farrag A, Soliman A, Hatef E, Goodin A, Rouhizadeh M | Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
Improving Screening Rates for Social Determinants of Health in Pediatric Primary Care Practices Rao VS, Chamberlain C, Bernstein B, et al. | Population Health Management
Current Practices in Social Determinants of Health Screening in Commission on Cancer Hospitals Chan K, Francescatti AB, Cotler JH, et al. | Journal of the American College of Surgeons
Integrating Social Drivers of Health Screening into Ambulatory Cancer Care Jones T, Snow A, Aryeh B, Liu M, Weber K, et al. | Journal of Psychosocial Oncology
Partnering to Address Social Determinants of Health: Screening Older Adults Through Healthcare and Aging Services Collaboration O'Sullivan KS, Weaver RH, Bolkan C, et al. | Journal of Applied Gerontology
