Screening for social needs in pediatrics: How can we ensure it is family-centered and effective?

As health care systems and payers are increasingly focused on the social needs of patients, there has been an emphasis on screening in the health care setting as a way to understand the support families require. However, we lack robust, evidence-based means of determining and addressing patients’ immediate social needs at the point of care, which can lead to numerous unintended consequences.

In response, an interdisciplinary group of experts throughout Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) collaborated on this brief, which offers guidance on strategies pediatric health care systems and providers can adopt to effectively implement screening and support families in meeting their social needs. The recommendations offered are based upon extensive evidence from a wide-range of academic institutions, including CHOP, lived experiences of patients and families and policy expertise. The authors highlight the need for a family-centered approach to social needs screening.