• Ellen Poleshuck, Kyle Possemato, Emily M Johnson, Alicia J Cohen, Colleen T Fogarty, and Jennifer S Funderburk.
• From the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, NY (EP, KP, EMJ, JSF); Departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY (EP); Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY (KP); Veterans Affairs Center of Innovation in Long Term Services and Supports, VA Providence Healthcare System, Providence, RI (AJC); Department of Family Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI (AJC); Department of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (AJC); Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY (CTF, JSF); Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY (JSF). Ellen_Poleshuck@urmc.rochester.edu.
• J Am Board Fam Med. 2022 Jan 1; 35 (1): 185189185-189.

AbstractPrimary care is well-poised to address unmet social needs that affect health. Integrated primary care is increasingly common and can be leveraged to facilitate identification of practice and clinician-level modifiable characteristics and assist practices to address unmet social needs for patients and families. A recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)'s consensus report identified 5 critical system-level activities to facilitate the integration of addressing social needs into health care: awareness (ask patients), adjustment (flexible intervention delivery), assistance (intervention to address the social need), alignment (link with community resources), and advocacy (policy change). This article outlines how integrated primary care characteristics, such as routine screening, functional workflows, interprofessional team communication, and patient-centered practices, exemplify the NASEM report's activities and offer robust biopsychosocial tools for addressing social needs. We provide a case to illustrate how these strategies might be used in practice.© Copyright 2022 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

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