Social Interventions in Health Care National Research Conference

University Of California, San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Social Interventions in Health Care National Research Conference Proposal Project Summary/Abstract Growing awareness of the impacts of social determinants on health and health equity coupled with a concurrent shift towards value-based care has resulted in an increased focus on the role of health care organizations in identifying and addressing patients' social and economic needs. Innovation in this field has included new programs, technology tools, and policy incentives aiming to increase the capacity of the health care system to screen for and help reduce patients' social and economic needs in order to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. Research informing these efforts has begun to accumulate, but the pace and quality of research has not kept up with the rate of intervention adoption. There is currently no forum for researchers studying the integration of medical and social services to convene to share findings, identify research gaps, discuss methodological issues, and develop new research collaborations. This has limited research collaboration, innovation, and translation. We propose to organize the first national research conference on how to improve the quality and content of social and medical care integration research so that it maximally informs the way we use SDH-focused interventions in clinical settings to improve health and health equity, health care quality, and the experience of care. The two-day convening, planned February 4-5, 2019 in Portland, OR, will involve 120 participants, including researchers engaged in both effectiveness and implementation research, as well as community organization and consumer group partners. Through panel presentations, small group discussions, lighting talks, and poster sessions, this conference will: a) showcase leading research on the effectiveness and implementation of social and medical care integration; b) provide a forum for information-sharing about research gaps and methodological challenges both within and across disciplines; c) help support a common research agenda across disciplines; and d) create opportunities for new research collaborations. The public conference will be followed by a half-day meeting of 20-25 invited researchers from the Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network Research Advisory Committee, a national research network comprised of leading experts in the field, to synthesize information presented at the meeting, discuss next steps to advance research on care integration, and develop a conference summary for public dissemination. To further disseminate key findings and discussions from the meeting, select presenters will also be invited to submit related papers for a special theme issue of a peer-reviewed journal.