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Social Determinants of Health
Social Determinants of Health Information
These resources from government agencies can help inform what the concerns and priorities are for improving health outcomes for patients.
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides objectives about how to address Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) by 2030. This resource includes current research areas focused on SDOH and other initiatives to improve the current climate.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) also is a hub for information about SDOH. This site links out to general information about SDOH as well as CDC research, programs addressing SDOH, and sources for data.
This report released on April 1, 2022 from the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) outlines examples of successful evidence-based strategies currently addressing SDOH, as well as current federal efforts.
This report demonstrates key health priorities and problems within Indiana; this can be a handy resource to have in order to understand the current landscape of Hoosier healthcare.
The CRE is a multi-disciplinary unit on the Indiana University Bloomington campus that aims to improve the lives of Hoosiers in rural communities. One facet of this work involves improving the health outcomes of Indiana residents by creating health improvement plans.
Data
Learn about America's communities through our data profiles. They cover 100,000+ different geographies: states, counties, places, tribal areas, zip codes, and congressional districts. For each, we cover topics like education, employment, health, and housing just to name a few.
The CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (CDC/ATSDR SVI) uses 16 U.S. census variables to help local officials identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters.
HRSA programs provide health care to people who are geographically isolated, economically or medically vulnerable. This includes people living with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women, mothers and their families, and those otherwise unable to access high quality health care. HRSA also supports access to health care in rural areas, the training of health professionals, the distribution of providers to areas where they are needed most, and improvements in health care delivery.
The NHQDR provides a unique set of AHRQ data tools to assist in focusing efforts on identifying areas for improvement in the delivery of healthcare in the United States. Use the tools to inspect States as geographic areas for quality disparities in vulnerable populations to pursue improvement activities. Close the gap in healthcare and healthcare status among racial and ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in the nation.
Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood has been linked to a number of healthcare outcomes, including higher rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, increased utilization of health services, and earlier death. Health interventions and policies that don't account for neighborhood disadvantage may be ineffective. The Neighborhood Atlas website was created in order to freely share measures of neighborhood disadvantage with the public, including educational institutions, health systems, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, in order to make these metrics available for use in research, program planning, and policy development. The site was launched May 1, 2018.
In Practice
CDC’s Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication emphasizes the importance of addressing all people inclusively and respectfully. These principles are intended to help public health professionals, particularly health communicators, within and outside of CDC ensure their communication products and strategies adapt to the specific cultural, linguistic, environmental, and historical situation of each population or audience of focus.
Culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) is a way to improve the quality of services provided to all individuals, which will ultimately help reduce health disparities and achieve health equity. CLAS is about respect and responsiveness: Respect the whole individual and Respond to the individual’s health needs and preferences.