Executive Summary
A statewide survey of Arkansas healthcare providers was conducted to understand their use of social determinants of health (SDOH) screening tools. Social determinants of health—the underlying social contextual, and environmental drivers of health—can affect individual health more than healthcare services. Surveying current practices, challenges, and opportunities for collecting and using SDOH
data can inform state health policies to improve SDOH integration within the Arkansas healthcare ecosystem.
The survey instrument was developed by the Arkansas Department of Health with partners from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Completed surveys were obtained from 145 providers representing 1376 hospitals, clinics, and healthcare facilities statewide with a survey completion rate of 91.8%.
Most responding organizations (87.1%) reported screening patients for SDOH-related needs. Commonly addressed needs are Food Insecurity, Housing Issues, and Transportation Issues consistent with national priorities. While providers screen at a high rate, there is a gap in referring patients for services and providing services directly:
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79.5% screen for food insecurity, 60.7% make referrals for it, and 18.9% provide direct food-related services.
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77.9% screen for housing issues, 52.5% make referrals, and only 4.9% provide direct housing services.
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77.0% screen for transportation issues, 56.6% make referrals, and 15.6% provide direct transportation services.
While providers demonstrate strong motivation and substantial adoption of SDOH screening, systemic infrastructure gaps and resource constraints limit the ability to translate screening into meaningful patient outcomes. Addressing these barriers will require a coordinated strategy emphasizing collaborative infrastructure, sustainable financing, and workforce capacity building.
Major policy recommendations to improve the ecosystem for screening and providing SDOH services in Arkansas include:
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Strengthen community-based partnerships: Invest in social and community-service capacity to address social needs and to promote formal partnerships with healthcare providers.
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Develop sustainable SDOH financing models: Integrate reimbursement mechanisms for screening, referrals, and coordination to ensure continuity of services.
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Standardize SDOH tools and data exchange: Promote validated screening tools and data sharing through interoperable systems.
Arkansas healthcare providers are committed to improving population health. Realizing a coordinated system of SDOH screening and services to improve population health requires statewide leadership to build collaborations between providers and service organizations helping clients with SDOH issues. Implementation of infrastructure and reimbursement strategies in Arkansas is essential to translate policy into action.
Access Full Survey Here: SDOH_Final Arkansas