Social Determinants of Health: Healthcare Issues Outside Your Hospital Are Affecting What Happens Inside

Social determinants of health (SdoH) are swamping hospitals like rising rivers following a storm. A reported $1.7 trillion in healthcare costs are now attributed to 5 percent of the nation’s population, with a majority of that sum related to the SdoH. 

And while the focus has been largely on the most vulnerable and disenfranchised members of populations, the new face of SDoH is evolving as a consequence of an increase of natural and manmade disasters, as well as new attention being given to longstanding issues such as rural health, human trafficking, business closures, and loss of pensions for an increasing number of older adults.

Returning to Talk Ten Tuesdays to report on this developing story is nationally recognized SDoH authority, author, and educator Ellen Fink-Samnick, MSW, ACSW, LCSW, CCM, CRP, the founder of EFS Supervision Strategies, LLC.

Other segments to be featured on the broadcast include:

• Coding Report: Coders will be dealing with new payment models in 2019, including one for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) expected to be released on Oct. 1. Nationally recognized coding authority Laurie Johnson, senior healthcare consultant at Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC, reports this developing story.
  
  
• News Desk: Timothy Powell, compliance expert and ICD10monitor national correspondent, anchors the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
  
  
• RegWatch: Leading healthcare technology consultant Stanley Nachimson returns with his popular segment, RegWatch, through which he reports on the latest regulatory changes coming out of Washington, D.C.
  
  
• DocTalk: Talk Ten Tuesdays guest co-host Juliet Ugarte Hopkins, MD, CHCQM, physician advisor of case management, utilization, and clinical documentation at ProHealth Care, reports on the collaboration between coding, clinical documentation integrity, and physician advisors when facing clinical validation denials.