It’s No Longer Just About Medical Care: Social Factors Are Targeted More And More To Improve Health
“We’ve placed a high value and have invested heavily in building our care-delivery system,” says Paul Roth, head of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. “We’ve shortchanged our health outcomes by neglect of these other factors.”
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Care Looks Beyond Medicine To Social Factors
The latest efforts by health organizations to fight disease extend well beyond medical care. With a growing body of research showing that social and economic forces play a significant role in health, many medical groups are investing in programs to help needy patients secure basics such as affordable housing, transportation and nutritious food. By tackling such nonmedical issues, often called the social determinants of health, they aim to ease the burdens that make battling disease more difficult. (Gormley, 9/16)
In other news —
Modern Healthcare:
Health Systems Focus On Patient-Centered Care Consumerism Takes Hold
Market forces are pushing health systems to rethink their approach to defining and encouraging patient-centered care. The term patient-centered care, first coined by the Institute of Medicine in 2001 and defined as ensuring patients guide their own clinical decisions, has become commonplace in healthcare. But CEOs of top health systems say the term and approaches to providing it need a revamp in order to address evolving consumer expectations. (Castellucci, 9/15)
