By 2022, all state and federal policy changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that expanded scope of practice should be made permanent, along with telehealth eligibility, insurance coverage, and equal payment for services provided by nurses, says The Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity.

Social determinants of health such as food security and transportation are believed to have much more impact on a person’s health status than clinical care. Healthcare providers have pursued two primary strategies to address SDOH: direct investment in social determinant programs or SDOH partnerships.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) such as housing, food security, and transportation can have a pivotal impact on the physical and mental health of patients. By making direct investments in initiatives designed to address SDOH and working with partners, healthcare organizations can help their patients in profound ways beyond clinical care.

The EDSM team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center was detailed recently in an article published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. The EDSM team at the hospital includes a patient navigator, social workers, care coordination nurses, a pharmacist, physician consultants, and specialists in transitional care, substance use, and quality improvement.

In a typical year, the seasonal influenza runs through May and can cause about 45 million illnesses, hospitalize more than 810,000 people, and claim more than 60,000 lives, according to the CDC.

SDOH factors such as food security and housing play a pivotal role in the health of individuals and populations. A landmark 2016 study published by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and the physical environment account for determining more than 80% of health outcomes, with clinical care accounting for only 16% of health outcomes.

The test, which detects stomach, esophageal, colorectal, lung and liver cancer, also found cancer in 88% of samples from 113 patients who were already diagnosed when the samples were collected, and recognized cancer-free samples 95% of the time, according to the study, which was published this week in Nature Communications.

Writing in the journal Stroke, Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis looked at data from more than 790,000 patients nationwide who were hospitalized for stroke from 2012 through 2017.