Definition
Social Determinants of Health is part of Salesforce's service management capabilities that enable support teams to resolve customer issues effectively. It integrates with the broader platform to provide agents with the context and tools they need.
Real-World Example
When a service operations lead at ShieldGuard Security needs to streamline operations, they turn to Social Determinants of Health to deliver consistent, high-quality support across all customer channels. Social Determinants of Health ensures that every inquiry follows the same process, agents have access to relevant customer history, and managers can track performance metrics in real time.
Why Social Determinants of Health Matters
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in Salesforce Health Cloud is a data framework for tracking non-medical factors that influence patient health outcomes, such as housing stability, food access, transportation availability, and social isolation. It solves the problem of incomplete patient context by giving care teams visibility into the environmental and social conditions that affect a patient's ability to follow treatment plans and maintain wellness. By capturing SDOH data alongside clinical information, healthcare organizations can design more effective, holistic care plans that address root causes rather than just symptoms.
As healthcare shifts toward value-based care models where providers are reimbursed based on outcomes rather than procedures, understanding SDOH becomes financially critical. Patients who lack transportation miss appointments, those with food insecurity cannot follow dietary plans, and unstable housing makes chronic disease management nearly impossible. Without SDOH tracking, care teams operate with blind spots that lead to repeated hospitalizations and poor outcomes despite clinical interventions. Organizations that integrate SDOH data into their care coordination workflows can proactively connect patients with community resources, reducing emergency room visits and improving population health metrics that directly impact reimbursement rates.
How Organizations Use Social Determinants of Health
- Beacon Community Health — Beacon Community Health uses SDOH fields in Health Cloud to screen patients for food insecurity during intake. When a diabetic patient indicates limited access to healthy food, the care coordinator is automatically notified and connects them with a local food pantry and nutritional counseling program, improving their A1C management compliance by 35%.
- Meridian Home Health — Meridian Home Health tracks transportation barriers in SDOH fields for their post-surgical patients. When a patient flags transportation as a concern, the system automatically schedules medical transport for follow-up appointments and triggers a referral to a community ride-share program, reducing missed appointment rates from 22% to 8%.
- Pacific Behavioral Health — Pacific Behavioral Health captures social isolation indicators as SDOH data for elderly patients. Care managers use this data to enroll isolated patients in weekly group therapy sessions and connect them with volunteer companion programs. Hospital readmission rates for this population decreased by 40% within six months of implementation.