Many community health centers (CHCs) screen patients for social risk factors like lack of food, housing, and transportation. Some state and federal policies now ask CHCs to always screen for these needs. The hope is that if clinic teams know about these risks to health, they may be able to help. Though CHCs have a long history of such efforts, it can be hard to always screen for social risks in busy clinics. The CRISP study was created to learn about how best to help them do so. In a collaboration with OCHIN, the study compared two methods of supporting social risk screening in CHCs. They included:
1) EHR tools and coaching: Some clinics received new social risk screening and documentation data tools and training on how to use the tools.
2) Financial incentives: Other clinics received small financial incentives to conduct screening.
3) Some received both!
To better understand factors that support social risk screening, the CRISP team interviewed some OCHIN member clinics with consistently high levels of social risk screening. In this work, the CRISP team asked two key questions:
1) Do financial incentives and EHR tools / coaching influence social risk screening in community clinics?
2) What other supports do clinics need to help them screen for social risks?
Presenters:
Danielle Hessler-Jones, PhD - University of California, San Francisco
Holly Wing, MA - University of California, San Francisco