News: Z code use rises as providers document SDOH data, study shows

A new report from CMS found that providers used Z codes to report social determinants of health (SDOH) for 467,136 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries in 2017, which is nearly 5% more than in 2016. CMS notes that this represents 1.4% of the 33.7 million total Medicare FFS beneficiaries in 2017.

The data highlights that there currently is a limited documentation of SDOHs for Medicare beneficiaries. The top five Z codes of 2017 were:

• Homelessness
• Problems related to living alone
• Disappearance and death of family members
• Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances
• Problems in relationship with spouse or partner

SDOH data can lead to an increase in patient referrals to supportive services and help identify population-level trends that have both health and cost implications. CMS notes, however, that consistent documentation needs to be widely adopted to identify social needs and monitor progress in adding them.

CMS points out that using SDOH screening tools is common across facilities and settings, but this information is not consistently translated to standardized data due to lack of technical specifications based on industry consensus.

To assist with this, a multi-stakeholder initiative called the Gravity Project is working on standardizing key data elements needed for documenting and sharing SDOHs related to screening, diagnosis, and treatment.

Editor’s note: Click here to read the CMS report. ACDIS articles related to SDOH can be found here and here.