How a Worksite Health Center can Provide Socially Informed Care
Health is more than a collection of genetic and behavioral factors. While healthcare providers are positioned to solve medical problems, long-term health outcomes are heavily dependent on the social, economic, and environmental context of a patient’s life. Studies show a link between these factors and the risk for chronic conditions like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and depression.[iii] In other words, health is strongly influenced by what happens outside of the doctor’s office.
Because lifestyle factors such as lack of reliable transportation, financial resources strain, and insufficient housing are barriers to accessing health services and to health improvement, medical providers and patients can benefit from screening for and addressing these needs in the healthcare setting. Although clinicians may not play the role of social workers and solve their patient’s unmet social needs, they can close the gap between their recommendations and the reality of a patient’s life. We define this as socially informed healthcare.
Marathon Health is excited to announce the release of a new white paper outlining our efforts and new developments in place to address the social determinants of health (SDH), and highlight how our own Marathon Health providers are increasingly practicing socially informed healthcare, using a social lens along with a growing clinical toolkit to enhance the care we provide. We further discuss how worksite health centers are an ideal setting for providing this holistic approach to patient care. Download our whitepaper today to find out more!
References:
[i] HealthyPeople.Gov. “Social Determinants of Health.” Social Determinants of Health | Healthy People 2020, 2019, www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-of-health.
[ii] County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. “What and why we rank.” County Health Rankings |County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2018. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/what-is-health.
[iii] Moody’s Analytics. “The Health of America Report: Understanding health conditions across the U.S.” | BlueCross BlueShield Association. Dec. 14, 2017. https://www.bcbs.com/sites/default/files/file-attachments/health-of-america-report/BCBS.HealthOfAmericaReport.Moodys_02.pdf.
