Dive Brief:
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U.S. News and the Aetna Foundation released a series of reports Tuesday that explored social determinants of health (SDOH) and the connection between race, ethnicity and geography and community health in the U.S.
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The research found that communities with a greater share of white residents generally score better on health, while areas with a larger black, Hispanic or Native American population score worse.
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Though race and ethnicity play a key factor in a community's health, socioeconomics can play an even bigger role, the series found.
Dive Insight:
The research is the latest to highlight the issue of social determinants of health. Factors such as housing, food insecurity and joblessness can be highly detrimental to a person's health, and there's a wide disparity of wellness across American society.
Providers, payers and community groups have increasingly sought ways to close that gap.
That work includes using SDOH data to find at-risk people for opioid misuse. Providers and payers can also share data, including poverty rates and transportation availability, to detect potential problems before they lead to addiction. They can then connect the at-risk people to community services.
CMS also understands the importance of SDOH. The agency is making changes to fund social programs in Medicare Advantage. Payers will be able to tailor supplemental benefits for members with chronic conditions that could address housing and transportation issues. These programs could include ride-sharing services, home visits and home renovations to help people prone to falls.
The latest research analyzed SDOH information for almost 3,000 counties that were part of the first Healthiest Communities rankings. Researchers looked at factors that influence overall well-being, including economy, housing and access to healthcare.
The researchers also drilled down on specific areas, including Georgia counties excelling in community health, a majority-white Kentucky county that's struggling with poverty and two heavily Hispanic New Mexico counties with very different health outcomes.
The study found that the strongest predictors of community performance in the assessment include factors like high homicide rates, low birth weight and access to healthy, affordable food. Those are all issues in some communities with large black populations. The report also found a small number of communities with a large black population are ranked in the top 500 healthiest communities, including many in the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta areas.
A region's economy and job security influence a community's health. Though race and ethnicity play a role, the report found that some of the whitest counties in the country struggle with poor economies and health, including those in Appalachia.
"Your ZIP code can influence your health more than your genetic code. However, even within the varying health outcomes that we see across different geographies, we also see inequality across racial and ethnic groups," Garth Graham, president of the Aetna Foundation and vice president of Community Health for Aetna, Inc., said in a statement. "In order to improve health equity in our country, we need to truly understand where these problems exist so that we can help support local solutions that address these unique needs."
Eliseo Perez-Stable, director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, said in a statement that race and ethnicity are major health indicators. However, it's vital to view health and health outcomes based on socioeconomics and not specifically a race perspective, he added.