Addressing Cancer Care Equity With Social Determinants of Health Screening and Early Intervention

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-medical social, environmental, and economic factors that impact health outcomes. Health-related social needs (HRSNs) then refer to the individual-level experiences arising from adverse SDOH that negatively affect an individual's well-being. Notably, an estimated 80% of health outcomes are attributable to SDOH rather than direct medical care. Despite major advances in cancer diagnostics and treatment, outcome gaps remain. Factors as unemployment, financial hardship, housing instability, and limited social support are known to affect cancer-specific morbidity and mortality. Yet, patients are not routinely screened to identify potentially actionable barriers to care. Prior work has shown that structured SDOH screening can be done successfully in outpatient cancer clinics, but this has not been studied in leukemia patients. Screening may be especially important in this group, as HRSNs have been linked to reduced access to care, differences in treatment response, and worse survival. This study involves a multi-component intervention (ACCESS-Leukemia) that includes systematic screening for HRSNs and early introduction of oncology social workers. The investigators are studying the feasibility of delivering this program, the acceptability with the program, and changes in financial burden, rate of unmet HRSNs, psychosocial support, and quality of life among patients who receive the intervention. The investigators will also examine the prevalence of HRSNs and their association with healthcare utilization. The study will use a series of questionnaires that can be completed by participants in clinic, in the hospital, or at home.