ISMA, Purdue partner to address social drivers of health
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The Indiana State Medical Association (ISMA) is teaming with Purdue University in an effort to address social factors affecting the health of Hoosiers.
They are looking for ways for physicians to connect their patients with resources to help with social drivers of health (SDOH) — such as income, access to healthy food and housing — which the National Academy of Medicine estimates determine 80% of health outcomes.
The ISMA is currently developing an app and web-based tool to help health care providers create those connections to better improve health outcomes for patients.
Dr. Genevieve Lankowicz, chair of the ISMA’s SDOH task force, told Inside INdiana Business the state is facilitating screenings for drivers of health concerns at medical care practices throughout the state.
“We do have several validated screening tools, which are kind of simple and ask patients coming in for visits about what what might be impacting their health,” she said. “Medical care impacts health just a fraction of what living conditions and social factors do, so we want to help facilitate screening and practices.”
Once the screening is completed, the ISMA wants to help patients who express a need with what is available in their community, such as food, transportation, shelter, clothing or safety needs.
“It’s not that we expect our medical practices to answer to those needs; it’s out of the scope of our work and expertise,” she said. “But we’re all members of communities as Hoosiers, and it’s important to kind of encourage helping each other.”
The ISMA began its effort after receiving a grant from The Physicians Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts. Lankowicz said that led to the discovery of Purdue’s Health Equity Initiatives program that began in 2021 to address root causes of health disparities.
Through discussions and sharing of information, the ISMA identified several counties that had more concerning health factors.
The collaboration with Purdue will initially focus on Delaware, Lake, Owen, Vanderburgh and Wayne counties, which have a larger gap between health metrics and resources available to address them, the agency said.
The app that is currently in development will serve as an aggregator of information and links to resources that are already available, Lankowicz said. The ISMA is taking feedback from physicians and task force members to build out the app.
She said the service won’t be isolated to the uninsured population or those on Medicaid.
“Most patients with Medicare and 50% of commercially insured people will identify a need,” she said. “And then community organizations and physicians in practice out there know that even if patients are not answering the survey affirmatively, sometimes more than 50% of the patients in their practice still have a need. So, being forward thinking and providing information that ties their practice population with what’s out there to help in the community is definitely beneficial.”
Officials are planning to launch the first iteration of the app this fall and collect feedback from physicians to find ways to improve it. Lankowicz said future plans to include mental health and substance use disorder resources.
The ISMA said if the program is successful, it may be expanded to additional counties.