3 Steps for Building an SDOH Business Case

Given that social determinants of health (SDOH) can come from a variety of sources, organizations may not fully understand what SDOH data to use to maximize the accuracy of predictive analytics, or how to integrate the data into their current workflows. They also may not understand how to effectively use the insights derived from SDOH data to identify populations with barriers to care and/or stage interventions to influence healthy behaviors, which is critical to affecting overall health. Finally, many healthcare organizations recognize the value of SDOH data but simply have no idea where to start.

Based on our experience working with healthcare organizations as they design SDOH initiatives, we’ve compiled our best practices and knowledge into this playbook. Building a successful business case is essential to getting any SDOH initiative off the ground and requires a thorough analysis of your patient/member population to determine a focus as well as a methodology for connecting the use case to ROI to get leadership and other stakeholder buy-in.

We believe these three steps will help your organization build a strong business case for implementing SDOH initiatives that will positively affect the health outcomes for your patient population and provide a methodology that can be used to scale into larger, more encompassing programs over time. Because measuring success throughout the process is vital to understand the effect of SDOH initiatives and because different stakeholders look at different metrics, we’ve highlighted measurement suggestions and/or key takeaways for consideration for your business case throughout each of the steps.

The three steps outlined in this paper can help to provide a structure not only for building a business case by identifying estimated ROI, but also for helping you identify “quick win” projects to kick-start efforts, as well as help you to define metrics to illustrate success. Following defined steps can help you to avoid “paralysis by analysis.” The best way to make an impact is to get started and scale from smaller wins. You can then compile lessons learned and expand your initiatives for even greater cost savings and positive health outcomes. Download now to learn more.