Health Care Steps Up to Social Determinants of Health: Current Context

As the articles in this Supplement demonstrate, the social determinants of health are a major focus for Kaiser Permanente and the broader US health care system. Mounting evidence of the impact of social determinants on people’s health has stimulated a surge of activity among policymakers, health systems, and a growing number of social entrepreneurs to integrate health and social services and to find novel ways to finance those efforts. The question is no longer whether there is an appropriate role for the US health care system in addressing the social determinants of health, but what that role is, how to create the right policy context for innovation and how health care can partner more effectively with providers of social services to meet patients’ most pressing needs given the fragmented, typically underresourced nature of the social sector.