With Social Needs Addressed, Patients’ Clinical Indicators Improved

Patients who were screened at health clinics and then helped getting food, medication and other necessities saw subsequent improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, a new study shows. These findings provide some of the first hard data linking intervention and outcome, although they do not prove that addressing social needs improves clinical indicators.The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine by Massachusetts General Hospital and Health Leads, a not-for-profit that screens patients for unmet social needs and helps connect them with relevant resources in their communities.