CloudMedx and Anthem shed new light on health in America with “Close to Home”, tracing crucial factors that affect up to 55% of health outcomes.
For years, researchers have found that Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) have a profound impact on the health of individuals and communities. The U.S. government defines SDOH as “the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.” According to the World Health Organization, SDOH account for between 30-55% of health outcomes.
But it has been nearly impossible for health providers, government officials and others to know just where all these determinants stand in any given community in the country. This problem has only gotten worse during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which SDOH have exacerbated health outcomes and created disparate impacts for minority groups.
Now, CloudMedx has teamed up with Anthem to solve this problem. With the new interactive data analytics dashboard “Close to Home”, anyone can get an up close look at the SDOH in every community in America. Available at https://sdoh.carelon.com, Close to Home offers data on food insecurity and food deserts, pharmacy and transportation access, housing, internet access, and levels of various health conditions such as obesity and hypertension. It also includes information on household sizes, incomes and education levels.
All of this data is available to providers, payers and the public at the state, county and even zip code level.
The dashboard is initially being presented with a focus on food. Food security is the most frequently unmet Social Determinant of Health in the United States. In order to drive meaningful change, everyone working on this issue needs data at the local level. With Close to Home, the information is now at their fingertips. We are bringing this data onto a single unifying platform for all stakeholders across the industry, providing a window into whole person health.” (The tool is also available at Anthem’s website.)
Hunger in America increased vastly in 2020, doubling among children, researchers have found. While there has been improvement this year, Feeding America says, more than 40 million Americans may experience food insecurity in 2021.
