VIDEO: Increasing the use of ICD-10 Z codes may help address social needs in primary care

CHICAGO — Despite spending more money on health care than any other nation, Americans continue to experience poor health outcomes, according to Rita K. Kuwahara, MD, MIH.
“Often, this is related to unmet social needs,” Kuwahara, a primary care internal medicine physician and health policy fellow at Georgetown University, told Healio. “In fact, in 2019, a report showed that 68% of Americans had an unmet social need, and one in four people had difficulty affording their medicines.”
Collecting and analyzing data through ICD-10 Z codes could provide more insight into

CHICAGO — Despite spending more money on health care than any other nation, Americans continue to experience poor health outcomes, according to Rita K. Kuwahara, MD, MIH.
“Often, this is related to unmet social needs,” Kuwahara, a primary care internal medicine physician and health policy fellow at Georgetown University, told Healio. “In fact, in 2019, a report showed that 68% of Americans had an unmet social need, and one in four people had difficulty affording their medicines.”
Collecting and analyzing data through ICD-10 Z codes could provide more insight into