Addressing health-related social needs-costs and optimism

It is well documented that health care contributes about 20% to a person’s health, while social and economic factors contribute twice as much. The substantial effect of social needs on health has led to increased interest in screening for and addressing social needs within health care settings.

In this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, Basu et al create a nationally representative simulation to estimate the cost of screening and addressing the need for services in 4 key domains (food, transportation, housing, and care coordination) among patients seen in primary care practice. They found that the cost of screening within health care was $5 per member per month. Using eligibility and enrollment rates in public benefits programs, the authors estimated that it would cost $60 per member per month to provide evidence-based interventions to address these social needs with higher costs among patients who get their health care in high-poverty neighborhoods. The authors found that less than half the cost of these programs was covered by existing federal funding.