Now that you've completed Module 1, it's time for Module 2. By the end of this module, you will demonstrate your ability to search for and apply online data sources to assess the needs for an informatics intervention. Recall, that when you were touring some of the clinic sites on behalf of improving health, one of the providers exclaimed with frustration, why do we have to do this anyway it's just been pushed down on us we're a medical clinic. What does social factors have to do with our populations? That might seem like in extremes set of questions, but it's actually something that's on the minds of providers. Remember this move towards population health management is relatively new in the United States. I have with me here and ACP Internist newsletter that I get in the mail. So ACP is the American College of Physicians. So I'm board certified in internal medicine with subspecialty board certification in clinical informatics. So I am a part of AMIA the American Medical Informatics Association, but I'm also a part of organizations like ACP for internal medicine. In a recent newsletter that arrived in the mail, you'll see on Page 10, social determinants and this particular article is a shifting focus on the role of patients non-medical needs. In this, the authors write, few physicians would argue against patients being at the center of modern medical care, but getting it social factors that could be affecting their health and working together to improve these issues can be a challenge especially within the confines of a short primary care visit. Do they have access to healthy food? A clean safe home? Reliable transportation? So these are the types of questions that are on the minds of providers and specialty societies and national organizations. Fortunately, you already know about the importance of social determinants of health and barriers to care in impacting health outcomes for populations. During this module, you will also gain an appreciation for the value of bridging Big Data to benefit population help. Recall that the five domains in the health-related screening needs tool that's been incorporated into the various clinical sites are focused on housing, food, utilities, safety, and transportation. Of course, as you noted in module one, the challenge has been with a paper-based screening form the low rates of adoption, the lack of standardization, issues with consistency, a lack of documentation, a lack of codified data. You found so many causes that lead to the ultimate problem or effect. Now in Module 2, you'll be exploring different publicly available sources for finding data on social determinants of health, as well as on online resources for assessing and measuring the impact of SDO age. You'll use this to make the case to the clinic sites regarding why the screening is needed. How can you leverage data for a given region to quantify and assess the needs for an informatics intervention. Once you've wrapped up Module 2, we'll see you back for a preview of what you'll be working on in Module 3.
