3108 - Meeting Patients Where They Are: Documentation of SDOH in Radiation Oncology

05:00pm - 06:00pm PT

Hall F

Screen: 31

POSTER

Presenter(s)

Claudia Melendez, BA - University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

G. Suneja¹, and C. Melendez²; ¹Department of Radiation Oncology, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, ²Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Purpose/Objective(s):

Social determinants of health (SDOH), or the conditions in which people are born, live, work, age, and worship have been recognized as integral to delivering optimal cancer care. Yet, few published studies explore the extent of SDOH documentation in medical records. This study analyzes SDOH documentation within the electronic medical record (EMR) in an academic radiation oncology department to understand documentation practices.

Materials/Methods:

A retrospective chart review was conducted for patients diagnosed with cancer who had a new patient visit during a one-month period in 2024 in the radiation oncology department at the University of Utah. Primary outcomes included the presence and location of SDOH documentation in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) “Social Determinants” dashboard, the “Social Documentation” open text section, or mentions within the clinic note. Descriptive analysis assessed documentation rates and referral patterns concerning SDOH indicators. Logistic regression analyzed the relationship between demographics and referral to social work.

Results:

Among 151 patients, 100% had some SDOH documentation in their EMR. Of these, 96.7% had portions of the dashboard completed, however, only an average of 3.62 out of 15 sections were filled out. Additionally, 18.5% utilized the open text section, and 97.4% mentioned SDOH in the clinic note. When analyzing section content, Tobacco Use was documented in 99.3% of dashboards. The next most documented topics included Depression (62.3%), Food Insecurity (44.5%), and Transportation Needs (43.2%). In contrast, the open text section contained information about Employment Status (65.4%) and Social Connection (61.5%). Clinic notes contained information on Tobacco Use (99.3%) and Alcohol Use (94.6%). Meanwhile, social work visits addressed Caregiver Impact (23%) and Stress (21%). Twenty-four patients received referral to social work based on information entered in SDOH by the radiation oncology department. Patients undergoing systemic therapy were 2.15 times more likely to receive a social work referral. The odds of referral slightly decreased with age, at 0.97 per additional year.

Conclusion:

The findings indicate that while some information about SDOH is documented in all patient records, an average dashboard completion rate of only 24.1% is insufficient to fully understand and address patient needs. Electronic tools developed in the EMR are currently underutilized. Better ascertaining SDOH has the potential to improve clinical care and outcomes, particularly for patients identified as needing additional support services.