The Case for Integrating Social Determinants Into Palliative Care

Hospice News / By Jim Parker

Individually, palliative care and social determinants programs both have the potential to improve quality of life and reduce costs — but that potential may be greater when the two are combined.

Social determinants are non-medical needs that can have a significant impact on the trajectory of patients’ health, such as nutrition, transportation, social or caregiver support, and housing, among others. Social and economic factors like these drive 40% of health outcomes, according to the Better Medicare Alliance.

With the care model’s focus on patients’ goals and quality of life, palliative care providers may be uniquely suited to assess those needs, according to Terri Maxwell, general manager, chief clinical officer, and co-founder of Turn-Key Health, a CareCentrix company.

“The interdisciplinary nature of palliative care, especially the inclusion of social workers, positions palliative care nicely to help to address the myriad needs that people have,” Maxwell told Hospice News. “Palliative care is well positioned to be able to positively close gaps related to social determinants of health — if a program is structured to uncover what those gaps are.” 

Integrating social determinants of health into community-based palliative care improves patient outcomes and can reduce higher-acuity care, which can help providers demonstrate their value to payers.

Home-based palliative care could reduce societal health care costs by $103 billion within the next 20 years, the nonprofit economic research group Florida TaxWatch indicated in a 2019 report…

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