Assessment of use of ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes for social determinants of health in the US, 2011-2021

Prior literature suggests that social determinants of health (SDOH) account for approximately 80% of health outcomes in the US. Although addressing SDOH has demonstrated improvements in population health at the hospital, payer, and practitioner levels, the current fee-for-service payment systems do not incentivize these efforts. The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnosis codes for SDOH provide a means to comprehensively document SDOH variables, but they have been underused historically. This study aimed to observe the trends in use of SDOH codes in the US from 2011 to 2021.