Social determinants’ impact on patient health

Physicians are increasingly recognizing that life circumstances, such as homelessness, lack of education and exposure to violence profoundly affect patients’ health outcomes. Since 2016 the prevalence and impact of these social determinants of health (SDOH) among Medicare patients have been captured by a set of ICD-10-CM codes known as Z codes. The following data are drawn from a CMS study of Z code use among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in 2017.