Social Determinants of Health Screening: Primary Care PRAPARE Tool Implementation

Abstract

Social determinants of health (SDOH) substantially impact health. Evidence-based SDOH screening was implemented in a small urban primary care practice. This quality improvement project aimed to increase SDOH screening from 0% to 50%. The Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patient Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PRAPARE) tool is a validated SDOH screener administered by a community health care worker during annual physical examinations over 12 weeks. PRAPARE was administered to 81 of 85 patients (95.3%), and 8 (9.9%) screened positive. Benchmarks were surpassed for SDOH screening and resulted in referrals to community resources. Research should use community health care workers as care extenders and test SDOH screening to identify needs toward improved health.