Remote Social Determinant of Health Screening for University Medical Associate Patients

University Medical Associates (UMA) is one of the largest clinics at UVA with 13,000 established patients. The medical group sees over 150 patients per day and over 35,000 visits per year and serves a diverse patient population that experiences many social determinants of health (SDOH). Social determinants of health are nonmedical factors like housing and food insecurity, cell/internet access, access to transportation, feelings of loneliness, and health literacy, that can significantly impact medical outcomes. Despite their importance, SDOH needs often go overlooked during appointments due to time constraints. In order to facilitate the process of identifying patients’ SDOH, UMA clinic recruited a team of medical students to remotely call patients with scheduled appointments at UMA clinic to screen for SDOH and provide relevant resources to any identified areas of need for each patient. From the period between October 2020 to March 2021, a team of ten medical students called 588 patients and screened 256 patients. Of those who responded to the calls, 117 patients reported 309 social determinants of health challenges in 15 areas with the top three being food insecurity, housing insecurity, and transportation. Results showed a snapshot of the overall SDOH landscape in the greater Charlottesville area. Following these initial results, the next steps in serving UMA patients is to expand screening capacity in order to identify more patients with social needs and connect them with community resources

2022 UVA Health Disparities Conference - Breakout Session 3: Charlottesville Health Initiatives and Community Projects