Screening for social determinants of health needs in primary care settings normalizes conversations between providers and patients about how housing and food insecurity, transportation barriers, language barriers, and other social needs can create barriers to health and health care,  allowing providers to help patients connect to needed community services.  Dartmouth-Hitchcock is engaging in a systematic process of implementing social determinants of health screening across its primary care network as part of its Substance Use Mental Health Initiative and role as Administrative Lead of the NH Region 1 Integrated Delivery Network.

After a focused small pilot in 2018, Dartmouth-Hitchcock has implemented routine screening in multiple primary care practices.  As with many early implementation projects, current screening rates are below targets.  This creates an opportunity to test strategies to improve completion rates.  One identified challenge is that the screener is too  long, with many patients starting but not completing the screening.  This data includes only completed screenings.