Use of a Poverty Screening Question to Predict Social Determinants

Abstract

The high correlation of poverty to social determinants of health (SDoH) suggests poverty screening could be a viable first step in SDoH screening. This study examined the relationship of SDoH to poverty and evaluated whether screening revealed needs previously unknown to providers. An SDoH Survey with an embedded poverty screening question was completed by 144 urban and 141 rural primary care patients. Nine of 10 SDoH were correlated with positive poverty screening. Needs previously unknown to providers were identified. Using a poverty screening question to identify patients needing full SDoH screening is supported, with some caveats.