September 2019 Research Round-Up

See below for publications recently added to the SIREN Evidence Library.

As always, if you are aware of resources you think should be added to the Evidence Library please send them our way.

Research Articles

Food Insecurity Screening in Pediatric Clinical Settings: A Caregivers' Perspective
E. Barnidge, K. Krupsky, G. LaBarge, J. Arthur
Maternal and Child Health Journal
In this qualitative study, caregivers highlighted barriers (stigma, fear of child being taken away, and shame) and facilitators (strong interpersonal skills, open body language, and empathy) to disclosing food insecurity in a clinical setting.

Cooling the Hot Spots Where Child Hospitalization Rates are High: A Neighborhood Approach to Population Health
A.F. Beck, K.L. Anderson, K. Rich, et al.
Health Affairs
This article describes how Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center reduced inpatient bed days by 18% and hospitalizations by 20% among children from two high morbidity, high poverty neighborhoods.

Complete Eats: Summer Meals Offered by the Emergency Department for Food Insecurity
D. Cullen, A. Blauch, M. Mirth, & J. Fein
Pediatrics
This advocacy case study describes the implementation and caregiver responses to a Summer Food Service Program in a pediatric ED.

Screening for Social Determinants of Health: The Known and Unknown
K.W. Davidson & T. McGinn
JAMA
This commentary highlights recent evidence on various practices for clinical screening and referrals and suggests some emerging best practices.

Interventions Addressing Food Insecurity in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review
E.H. De Marchis, J.M. Torres, T. Benesch, et al.
Annals of Family Medicine
This systematic review of health care–based food insecurity intervention studies found most were of low or very low quality. Studies of referral-based interventions reported moderate increases in patient food program referrals and resource use. Studies of interventions providing food or vouchers reported mixed results for change in fruit/vegetable intake.

Passive Social Health Surveillance and Inpatient Readmissions
N. Emechebe, T.P. Lyons Taylor, O. Amoda, & Z. Pruitt
American Journal of Managed Care
This retrospective observational study linked social service referral data collected from a call center-based passive social health surveillance system with health care claims data extracted from a managed care organization, finding that individuals with social needs had higher odds of readmission within 30, 90, and 180 days.

Prevalence of Screening for Food Insecurity, Housing Instability, Utility Needs, Transportation Needs, and Interpersonal Violence by US Physician Practices and Hospitals
T.K. Fraze, A.L. Brewster, V.A. Lewis, et al.
JAMA Network Open
This paper presents findings from a large cross-sectional survey of US hospitals and health care practices that included questions on the prevalence of screening for food, housing, transportation, utilities, and interpersonal violence. Federally qualified health centers and physician practices participating in bundled payments, primary care improvement models, and Medicaid accountable care organizations screened more than other hospitals, and academic medical centers screened more than other practices. Also see the accompanying commentary, National Data on Social Risk Screening Underscore the Need for Implementation Research by R. Gold & L. Gottlieb.

Intimate Partner Violence Screening Programs in the Veterans Health Administration: Informing Scale-Up of Successful Practices
K.M. Iverson, O. Adjognon, A.R. Grillo, et al.
Journal of General Internal Medicine
This qualitative study identifies successful clinical practices for implementation of Intimate Partner Violence screening: use of two specific screening tools for primary IPV screening and secondary risk assessment, multilevel resource provision and community partnerships, co-location of mental health/social work, and patient-centered documentation.

Homelessness Among Patients in a Southeastern Safety Net Emergency Department
T.S. Jackson, T.P. Moran, J. Lin, J. Ackerman, & B.A. Salhi
Southern Medical Journal
Over 50% of emergency department patients in an urban safety net hospital sample in Atlanta, GA reported experiencing homelessness within the past 12 months.

Expert Consensus on Inclusion of the Social Determinants of Health in Undergraduate Medical Education Curricula
K.A. Mangold, T.R. Bartell, A.A. Doobay-Persaud, M.D. Adler, & K.M. Sheehan
Academic Medicine
This paper describes outcomes from a modified Delphi technique survey used to develop a consensus guide for teaching SDH to medical students. Panelists agreed that SDH should make up almost one third of the total curriculum and be taught continuously. Screening patients for assets and needs, along with working effectively with community providers and multidisciplinary teams, were ranked as the most important skills to teach.

Considerations for Identifying Social Needs in Health Care Systems: A Commentary on the Role of Predictive Models in Supporting a Comprehensive Social Needs Strategy
C. Nau, J.L. Adams, D. Roblin, J. Schmittdiel, E. Schroeder, & J.F. Steiner
Medical Care
This commentary proposes a multi-pronged approach to identifying patients, patient subgroups, and communities at high risk for social needs, and suggests how predictive modeling can be integrated into this process.

Social Determinants of Health: The How, Who, and Where Screenings Are Occurring; A Systematic Review
K.H. O'Brien
Social Work in Health Care
In this exploratory systematic review, the author included 43 studies documenting the use of 38 screening tools, of which four were multi-domain. Health literacy screening tools were most prevalent.

Reports & Commentaries

What would it take to reduce inequities in life expectancy?
G.M. Kenney, T. Waidmann, L. Skopec, E.H. Allen
This brief highlights promising health care strategies and key evidence gaps related to health-related social needs.

Affordable Housing Investment: A Guide for Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems
K. Reynolds, E.H. Allen, M. Fedorowicz, & J. Ovalle
Urban Institute
Informed by research examining current practices, motivations, and barriers nonprofit hospitals and health systems face to initiating and broadening investments in housing development, this guide presents key concepts and strategies for designing and implementing housing development projects.

Investing in Interventions that Address Non-Medical, Health-Related Social Needs: Proceedings of a Workshop
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
This publication summarizes a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop to explore the potential effect of addressing nonmedical health-related social needs on improving population health and reducing health care spending in a value-driven health care delivery system.