Integrating social context into comprehensive shared care plans: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Failure to address social determinants of health (SDH) may contribute to the problem of readmissions in high-risk individuals. Comprehensive shared care plans (CSCP) may improve care continuity and health outcomes by communicating SDH risk factors across settings. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study to evaluate the state of knowledge for integrating SDH into a CSCP. Our scoping review of the literature considered 13,886 articles, of which seven met inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Identified themes were: integrate health and social sectors; interoperability; standardizing ontologies and interventions; process implementation; professional tribalism; and patient centeredness. DISCUSSION: There is an emerging interest in bridging the gap between health and social service sectors. Standardized ontologies and theoretical definitions need to be developed to facilitate communication, indexing, and data retrieval. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a gap in the literature that indicates that foundational work will be required to guide the development of a CSCP that includes SDH that can be shared across settings. The lack of studies published in the United States suggests that this is a critical area for future research and funding.

Integrating Social Determinants of Health into Primary Care Clinical and Informational Workflow during Care Transitions.

CONTEXT: Care continuity during transitions between the hospital and home requires reliable communication between providers and settings and an understanding of social determinants that influence recovery. CASE DESCRIPTION: The coordinating transitions intervention uses real time alerts, delivered directly to the primary care practice for complex chronically ill patients discharged from an acute care setting, to facilitate nurse care coordinator led telephone outreach. The intervention incorporates claims-based risk stratification to prioritize patients for follow-up and an assessment of social determinants of health using the Patient-centered Assessment Method (PCAM). Results from transitional care are stored and transmitted to qualified healthcare providers across the continuum. FINDINGS: Reliance on tools that incorporated interoperability standards facilitated exchange of health information between the hospital and primary care. The PCAM was incorporated into both the clinical and informational workflow through the collaboration of clinical, industry, and academic partners. Health outcomes improved at the study practice over their baseline and in comparison with control practices and the regional Medicaid population. MAJOR THEMES: Current research supports the potential impact of systems approaches to care coordination in improving utilization value after discharge. The project demonstrated that flexibility in developing the informational and clinical workflow was critical in developing a solution that improved continuity during transitions. There is additional work needed in developing managerial continuity across settings such as shared comprehensive care plans. CONCLUSIONS: New clinical and informational workflows which incorporate social determinant of health data into standard practice transformed clinical practice and improved outcomes for patients.