Use of Codes for Adverse Social Determinants of Health Across Health Systems.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated codes for adverse social determinants of health (SDoH) across 12 U.S. health systems by using data from multiple health care encounter types for diverse patients covered by multiple payers.

METHODS

The authors described documentation of 11 SDoH code categories (e.g., educational problems or social environmental problems) between 2016 and 2021; assessed changes over time by using chi-square tests for trend in proportions; compared documentation in 2021 by gender, age, race-ethnicity, and site with chi-square tests; and compared all patients' mental health outcomes in 2021 with those of patients with documented SDoH codes by using exact binomial tests and one-proportion z tests.

RESULTS

Documentation of any SDoH code significantly increased, from 1.7% of patients in 2016 to 2.7% in 2021, as did that for all SDoH categories except educational problems. Documentation was often more prevalent among female patients and those of other or unknown gender than among male patients and among American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, and Hispanic individuals than among those belonging to other race-ethnicity categories. More educational problems were documented for younger patients, and more social environmental problems were documented for older patients. Psychiatric diagnoses and emergency department visits and hospitalizations related to mental health were more common among patients with documented SDoH codes.

CONCLUSIONS

SDoH code documentation was infrequent and differed by population subgroup. Differences may reflect documentation practices or true SDoH prevalence variation. Standardized SDoH documentation methods are needed in health care settings.