Doctors have long known that factors such as food insecurity, housing instability, transportation problems and financial problems can impact a patient’s health.
Patients who are now returning to physicians’ offices and hospitals for routine checkups, deferred elective procedures, prescription refills and more are presenting with conditions made worse by lost jobs and the struggle to afford food, transportation or rent brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But most doctors say they lack the time and ability to address social determinants of health (SDOH) for their patients, according to a new survey by the Physicians Foundation.
