{"id":41217,"date":"2020-04-06T19:26:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T23:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?p=41217"},"modified":"2023-06-06T17:52:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T21:52:26","slug":"berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seth
Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Studies have shown health-related social needs–which include food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation–are associated with poor health outcomes, more health care use, and higher health care spending. \u00a0Integrating human services that address health-related social needs into health care may address these issues, but we need better methods to study such programs says Seth A. Berkowitz<\/a>, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, in an article published today in the April issue of Health Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the drivers of health and health care expenditures are increasingly recognized to lie both within and outside the health care system, integrating human services that address health-related social needs into health care may be a key mechanism to improve health,\u201d said Berkowitz, lead author.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there are encouraging early results from such integration, rigorous evaluation of these programs is critical. In particular, it is important to use strong study designs that can validly estimate what would have happened in the absence of the program and to avoid designs such as pre-post assessments that are subject to regression to the mean and other sources of bias.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berkowitz proposes an innovative methodological approach (borrowed from developmental economics) called cash benchmarking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen control groups are used at all in health care and human service integration studies, the typical approach uses a usual-care design that compares the new program to current practice, which may be no specific intervention. In a cash-benchmarking study, one group receives an intervention and another receives the monetary value of the intervention as a cash transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treatment effects estimated by such a study show the benefit of the intervention, above and beyond the cash value of the resources provided. This is particularly relevant for integrated health care and human services interventions, as the health-related social needs that these interventions seek to address are often rooted in a lack of financial means.<\/p>\n

Discussing both the advantages and limitations of cash-benchmarked designs, Berkowitz, with authors Samuel T. Edwards, MD, MPH, at Oregon Health and Science University, and Daniel Polsky, PhD, at John Hopkins Carey Business School, conclude that \u201ccash benchmarking can help stakeholders navigating closer to the promise, and away from the pitfalls, of health care and human services integration.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Studies have shown health-related social needs–which include food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation–are associated with poor health outcomes, more health care use, and higher health care spending. \u00a0Integrating human services that address health-related social needs into health care may address these issues, but we need better methods to study such programs says Seth … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69419,"featured_media":31673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[98,2],"tags":[629],"class_list":["post-41217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-medicine","category-news","tag-629","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBerkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Studies have shown health-related social needs–which include food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation–are associated with poor health outcomes, more health care use, and higher health care spending. \u00a0Integrating human services that address health-related social needs into health care may address these issues, but we need better methods to study such programs says Seth … Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNCDeptMedicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1569\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kim Morris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uncdeptmedicine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uncdeptmedicine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kim Morris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kim Morris\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529\"},\"headline\":\"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\"},\"wordCount\":397,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2020\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\",\"name\":\"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1569,\"caption\":\"Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Medicine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529\",\"name\":\"Kim Morris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/95c34b3e4d55a602b94260bccc6350c2ddfdde901530a734fe6c8fa9e3a5d399?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/95c34b3e4d55a602b94260bccc6350c2ddfdde901530a734fe6c8fa9e3a5d399?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kim Morris\"},\"description\":\"Medicine - Dept of\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/author\/kcmorris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine","og_description":"Studies have shown health-related social needs–which include food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation–are associated with poor health outcomes, more health care use, and higher health care spending. \u00a0Integrating human services that address health-related social needs into health care may address these issues, but we need better methods to study such programs says Seth … Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/","og_site_name":"Department of Medicine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UNCDeptMedicine","article_published_time":"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1569,"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kim Morris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uncdeptmedicine","twitter_site":"@uncdeptmedicine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kim Morris","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/"},"author":{"name":"Kim Morris","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529"},"headline":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs","datePublished":"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/"},"wordCount":397,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","keywords":["2020"],"articleSection":["General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/","name":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs | Department of Medicine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-06T23:26:40+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-06T21:52:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","width":1500,"height":1569,"caption":"Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/berkowitz-proposes-innovative-methodological-approach-to-studies-that-address-health-related-social-needs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Berkowitz Proposes Innovative Methodological Approach to Studies that Address Health-Related Social Needs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/","name":"Department of Medicine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/9a358414a53d5237f9ba3f8daa55c529","name":"Kim Morris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/95c34b3e4d55a602b94260bccc6350c2ddfdde901530a734fe6c8fa9e3a5d399?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/95c34b3e4d55a602b94260bccc6350c2ddfdde901530a734fe6c8fa9e3a5d399?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kim Morris"},"description":"Medicine - Dept of","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/author\/kcmorris\/"}]}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz.jpg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz-287x300.jpg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz-768x803.jpg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz-979x1024.jpg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/945\/2019\/04\/seth-berkowitz-150x150.jpg","featured_image_alt":"Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH","category_details":[{"name":"General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/general-medicine\/"},{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/category\/news\/"}],"tag_details":[{"name":"2020","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/news\/tag\/2020\/"}],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/medicine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}