Pediatric health systems are increasingly screening caregivers for unmet social needs. However, it remains unclear how best to connect families with unmet needs to available and appropriate community resources. We aimed to explore caregivers' perceived barriers to and facilitators of…

The effects of poverty on child health have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent economic recession, magnifying the urgency for pediatric healthcare institutions to effectively address patients’ unmet social needs. Simultaneously, there is increasing policy and…

The burden of asthma disproportionately affects minority and low-income communities, resulting in racial and socioeconomic disparities in asthma prevalence, asthma exacerbations, and asthma-related death. Social determinants of health are increasingly implicated as root causes of…

In May 2021, PolicyLab virtually convened more than 30 experts from across the United States for a workshop on state policy levers to address unmet social needs in the pediatric setting. This workshop grew out of a PolicyLab issue brief focused on ensuring that screening for unmet…

Between April and June 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 29.5% of children in the US, predominantly from low-income families and racial and ethnic minority groups, experienced household food insecurity.1 The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and…

The American Rescue Plan (ARP), enacted into law in March 2021, includes important, but temporary, improvements to the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. These provisions will help reduce child poverty by 50% and benefit…

As health care systems and payers are increasingly focused on the social needs of patients, there has been an emphasis on screening in the health care setting as a way to understand the support families require. However, we lack robust, evidence-based means of determining and…

Researchers at PolicyLab responded to a request for comment on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed rule to simplify meal service and monitoring requirements in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Under guidelines currently in place as part of the Healthy,…

Medical care is just one part of the equation when it comes to child and adolescent well-being. Social determinants of health, like food insecurity, environmental factors or a family’s housing conditions, can have a strong influence on a child’s growth and development, reaching far…

Food insecurity, or the lack of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, affects nearly 16 percent of all households (15.8 million children) across the U.S. and has been associated with a multitude of health-related issues, poor academic…