Consumer Insights and Kaiser Initiative on SDOH

By Clive Riddle, May 10, 2019

McKinsey has just published various insights from their 2019 Consumer Social Determinants of Health Survey, which found that compared to those whose social need is met, respondents (2,010 surveyed with government program coverage or uninsured and below 250% of federal poverty level) that:

• Reported food insecurity were 2.4 times more likely to report multiple ER visits, and 2,0 times more likely to be hospitalized
• Reported unmet transportation needs were 2.6 times more likely to report multiple ER visits, and 2,2 times more likely to be hospitalized
• Reported unmet community safety needs were 3.2 times more likely to report multiple ER visits

Encouraging news from the survey for health plan advocates of SDOH was that 85% of respondents reporting unmet social needs said they would use a social program offered by their health insurer. Regardless of their social needs, respondents were interested in these types of health plan SDOH programs as follows: 

• 50% were interested in grocery store discounts for healthy foods
• 48% were interested in free memberships at local gyms
• 45% were interested in a wellness dollar account used towards wellness services of their choice
• 41% were interested in total reimbursement of home improvement purchases to address health issues
• 40% were interested in after-hours drop-in clinics at lower or no cost 

Speaking of health plans, Kaiser Permanente has just announced their new Thrive Local initiative, a “a social care coordination platform” with “a network of public agencies and community-based organizations that will support” Kaiser “members to meet their social needs.”

Kaiser says that “starting this summer, closed-loop and bidirectional communication will provide confidence that referral, follow-up and ongoing patient/family engagement happen. Improved cross-sector collaboration and communication will also reduce the unintentional trauma and stigma that our patients and families may experience. Beyond Kaiser Permanente members and patients, community-based organizations will also benefit through improved decision support, automation, and relevance of the referrals they receive from their health system. This connectivity and interoperability between health care and social organizations and agencies will redefine the meaning of ‘provider network’ in this new world as the network of providers of health, health care, and social needs to address total health of our communities.”

Kaiser Permanente is partnering with Unite Us to launch the program, as tells us that Thrive Local within three years “will be available to all of Kaiser Permanente’s 12.3 million members and the 68 million people in the communities Kaiser Permanente serves.