Unfiltered Stories | Moral determinants of health are fundamental to sustainable health and quality care

Social determinants of health (SDoH) are critical to driving positive outcomes for our health and wellbeing. However, the crumbling healthcare infrastructure impacting access to care, nutritional deficiencies driven by growing food deserts and more as well societal challenges be it racism or gun violence, not to mention climate change are challenging social determinants of health. We are going to need to fortify SDoH by enhancing it with emotional attributes to maximize its value proposition. Dr. Ravula and I discuss this enhanced construct called Moral Determinant of Health to explore the possibilities. This videocast has 3 parts: 1. Setting the stage – Social determinants of health (SDoH) that are typically constructed of 5 attributes including economic stability, health care, and quality, social and community, neighborhood and built environment, and education access and quality are not being utilized sufficiently to make a difference to the triple aim of care (cost of care, health outcomes and experience of care). 2. Let’s talk unfiltered – SDoH cannot exist in a vacuum, its 5 attributes are both interlinked and interdependent with each other, and they are influenced by external variables. Despite the US Department of Health and Human Services incorporating the inclusion of SDoH into their models for population health, there is a certain push on the behalf of accountable regulatory authorities to individualize these issues. While they are empowering healthy choices, we must recognize that choices are not made equal. To aid in the right choices for everyone, we must look beyond the physical to the emotional. Moral determinants of health elevate SDoH with the inclusion of fairness, empathy, and equity. We explore the practicality of the concept through real-world examples. 3. Looking into the future – Climate change the existential crisis that is upon us requires a collective effort. That collective effort is enabled through the construct of moral determinants and delivered with the help of emerging technologies and cross-collaboration across the globe.