Addressing Patients' Nonmedical Needs: Defining the Role of Health Care Organizations, and Providing Guidance for Integr

To assist the coalition, this project will synthesize practical guidance on integration of nonmedical services with health care. Informed by a literature review and consultations with stakeholders and experts, the coalition will:

1. Identify steps that providers and health systems can take to: systematically screen patients for unmet social needs, create local resource directories; build relationships with community resources; train health staff on connecting patients to services; and evaluate impact on patient experience, cost, and utilization.
2. Draft a toolkit with training modules for each of these key steps.
3. Disseminate the toolkit broadly to health care leaders, policymakers, measurement and accreditation organizations, payers, and professional organizations.

The concrete guidance resulting from this collaboration of health system leaders will assist providers, policymakers, measurement and accreditation organizations, payers, and professional societies to address patients’ nonmedical needs in health care settings.