Description

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions conducted a nationally representative online survey of about 300 hospitals and health systems to identify their current health-related social needs and activities and investments and their potential future efforts. To better understand how hospitals and health systems may be operating in the larger health care ecosystem and the challenges they face, representatives of hospitals, health plans, and nonprofit community organizations were also interviewed. This research shows that hospitals and health systems are investing in health-related social needs, and that leadership support is high: 80% of hospital respondents reported that leadership is committed to establishing and developing processes to systematically address social needs as part of clinical care. However, findings also indicate that much activity is still ad hoc (defined in our survey as occasional and only reaching some of the target population), and gaps remain in connecting initiatives that improve health outcomes or reduce costs.