ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/QUESTION: Social risk factors (SRF), such as food insecurity, represent adverse social circumstances associated with poor health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted impoverished communities by exacerbating existing SRF. Students and faculty at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC), an academic safety net hospital, and Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) partnered to develop an outreach call center (CC) to explore SRF of patients with COVID-19 and connect them with available social need resources. In this , the development and operations of the CC and descriptive data on the volume and type of outreach efforts will be presented. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM/INTERVENTION: Call Center (CC) Operation: An ambulatory RN performed SRF screening in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and sent referrals to the CC. Then, students called patients and screened for SRF using the THRIVE screening tool, and used the THRIVE Directory, an online repository of resources, to provide information about organizations to support their social needs. Two weeks later, students called the patients to assess whether they received help and provided additional support as needed. MEASURES OF SUCCESS: Volume of outreach calls and type of outreach efforts were evaluated. Number of patients reached through the CC were tracked using Epic reports. Types of referrals were tracked using automated reports from the THRIVE Directory database. Finally, students completed surveys to reflect on their experiences and to evaluate the impact on skills to address social needs. FINDINGS TO DATE: Between 10/2020 and 03/2021, the CC served 312 patients and 478 referrals were made, with a mean of 1.53 referrals per patient. Patients were most often referred to the City of Boston Food Delivery (148 referrals). Patients were most often referred to Government programs (188), followed by BMC programs (133) and Local Non-Profits (70). The most common primary support area was Food. Preliminary results from students' surveys showed a positive impact in their skills to collaboratively address social needs. KEY LESSONS FOR DISSEMINATION: It was feasible to develop and implement an interdisciplinary social needs outreach workforce to support patients with COVID-19. Food was the most important driver of social need among BUMC patients. Our partnership with the City of Boston was key to effective assistance with food delivery, showing the importance of collaborative partnerships when developing outreach efforts to support patients with social needs. Finally, interdisciplinary outreach opportunities like the CC can be used to teach health professional students about the different scopes of practice and how to effectively collaborate with other disciplines when addressing patient health related social needs.