Source

Individuals’ Comfort with Social Needs Data Sharing.

Citation

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. ‘Individuals’ Comfort with Social Needs Data Sharing,’ Health IT Quick Stat #68.

For the first time in 2022, the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 6) asked about individuals’ comfort with social needs data sharing for three social needs data types: food, housing, and transportation. Here, we show results that reflect individuals’ comfort with each type of social needs data sharing. Overall, about 6 in 10 Americans reported being comfortable with their health care provider sharing information about their social needs with other providers for treatment purposes in 2022.

Percent of U.S. individuals that reported being very or somewhat comfortable with providers sharing their social needs data for treatment purposes, by social needs data type (food, housing, transportation), in 2022.

This figure contains a vertical bar chart that displays the proportion of US individuals that would be either very or somewhat comfortable with providers sharing their social needs data (were they to experience a need) for each of three social need types: 1) food insecurity, 2) housing instability, and 3) lack of reliable transportation. The bar chart shows that 59% of patients would be comfortable with providers sharing their food needs, 57% would be comfortable with providers sharing their housing needs, and 62% would be comfortable with providers sharing their transportation needs.

Food Instability Housing Insecurity Unreliable Access to Transportation
59% 57% 62%

 

In the 2022 HINTS 6 survey instrument, respondents were asked to indicate their level of comfort with their providers sharing their social needs data for treatment purposes if they were experiencing any of the following issues related to: 1) affording or accessing healthy food (food instability), 2) issues with housing - for example, concerns about eviction, making mortgage payments, lead paint, or asbestos (housing insecurity), and 3) issues with transportation that make it difficult getting to work or medical appointments (unreliable access to transportation). Those who indicated they were “very comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” were classified as being comfortable with data sharing, and those who indicated that they were “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” were classified as being uncomfortable. The percentages displayed represent weighted population estimates of individual comfort with social needs data sharing. Missing data were excluded from the denominator.