Individual health is influenced by a variety of non-medical factors, like where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age. These conditions are known as Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). To help improve health and wellbeing through SDoH, the White House and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have released new resources, including the first-ever U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health. “It is clear that the health of our people does not exist in a vacuum, but it is affected by our access to stable housing, healthy food, and clean air to breathe,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “It is crucial for HHS to tackle health care and public health holistically by addressing patients’ social ...
As more healthcare systems consider implementing a social determinants of health (SDoH) screening program to care for patients’ non-medical needs, we at Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio are sharing important tips in developing such a program. Today, we’re highlighting the role of the screener and how to identify healthcare staff most suited to screen patients for social needs. While there is no evidence-based gold standard for how screening programs should be conducted or who should conduct the screening, lived experiences from clinics that have successfully implemented a SDoH screening program can help healthcare facilities make critical decisions in designing their own screening program. We’ll be exploring the lived experiences of one of these clinics ...
Cancer survival disparities are well documented in adults living along the US-Mexico border, but it is unknown whether these disparities similarly affect children with leukemia, the most common cancer in children and teens. A Baylor College of Medicine study in the journal Cancer helps bridge this knowledge gap. Let’s explore the findings of the study, what these findings mean for Latino children and families living along the Texas-Mexico border, and how to address cancer disparities in the Latino population.
Study Findings on Leukemia in South Texas
Baylor College of Medicine researchers examined the survival rates of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of pediatric leukemia, in children living along the Texas-Mexico border. The study included 6,002 Texas ...
Since the 1960s, community health centers (also called Federally Qualified Health Centers) have made it their mission to increase people’s access to primary healthcare by reducing barriers, such as cost, lack of insurance, distance, and language. But beyond clinic walls, many people have big social needs, like unstable housing, that hurt their health. That is why the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) helped create a social determinants of health (SDoH) screening tool – PRAPARE® (Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patient’s Assets, Risks and Experiences) – to enable community health centers to identify social needs among patients and refer them to local resources for aid. Today, PRAPARE® helps hundreds of community health centers, like the ...
The conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age – known as social determinants of health (SDoH) – can greatly help or harm our health. More health organizations and healthcare facilities are recognizing the impact SDoH has on overall health, especially in marginalized and medically underserved areas, such as in some Latino communities. The American Heart Association is one of these organizations. That is why they created the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator™, a program that supports local communities, small businesses, social entrepreneurs, and innovators in addressing health disparities through training, mentorship, and funding opportunities. Let’s explore the relationship between SDoH and heart health, and what the American Heart Association is ...
Did you know that our health is influenced by many non-medical factors? That’s right. The conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age – known as social determinants of health (SDoH) – can greatly help or harm our health. As a result, more healthcare facilities are screening patients for SDoH through written questionnaires or verbal questions. Screenings can cover a variety of topics, such as mental and financial health and access to healthy food, transportation, and affordable medication. SDoH screening can help medical providers better understand and address patients’ social needs, which can be beneficial for vulnerable patients who face health inequities, such as Latinos. If patients screen positive for social needs, providers can connect them to ...
To help address social needs, or the non-medical barriers to health, more healthcare systems are screening patients for social determinants of health (SDoH). We at Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio are spotlighting why SDoH screening can be an effective way to improve health outcomes for Latinos and all patients. Today, we are sharing three more SDoH screening tools – questionnaires that gather information from patients – that may be helpful to your healthcare facility. Download these screening tools or use them as inspiration to create your own! For more screening tool options, please read our first list of SDoH screening tools.
The Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Screening Tool
In a five-year testing period (2017 to 2022), ...
Cancer continues to be a top cause of death for those living in the US, including Latinos, who suffer disproportionate rates of certain cancer types, are diagnosed at later stages, and are more likely to die from the disease. This is because many Latinos and other people of color are face living disparities that impact their access to healthcare, education, quality affordable housing, and more. These factors can establish what kind of healthcare and treatments someone can get. That’s why researchers choose to keep studying the intersection between race/ethnicity and healthcare so that science and medicine can improve cancer outcomes for these individuals and everyone. Here are three cancer studies that focus on racial/ethnic disparities and cancer.
1. ...
This content is from the "Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos: 2024 Conference Proceedings."
Integrating Clinical and Genomic Data for Tumor Molecular Profiling in Latino Patients with Cancer
Dr. Enrique I. Velazquez-Villarreal is Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Translational Sciences at Beckman Research Institute and the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center. Multi-omics and colorectal cancer in Latinos Dr. Velazquez-Villarreal’s presentation discussed how multi-omics can be used to understand colorectal cancer disparities in Latino individuals and how global and local ancestry impacts these disparities. He also described clinical and genomic data integration in colorectal cancer disparities and recent technologies used to understand the tumor ...
