In an effort to slow transmission of COVID-19, communities worldwide implemented strict quarantine policies. While these efforts appeared to have a positive public health impact, they negatively impacted economies, limited personal resources for both COVID and non-COVID-infected patients, and exacerbated health disparities.

Community service providers reported steady increases in calls for resources (e.g., for food, housing, transportation) during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly from underserved and underrepresented communities, and additional strain was placed on health systems. There was a critical need to identify how to overcome community service access barriers during COVID-19, particularly for underserved communities.

This program of research successfully leveraged existing, low-cost technology to conduct social needs screening during busy emergency department (ED) care, follow-up by United Way 211’s community referral service, and data exchange between systems, suggesting it might have been a solution for understanding and meeting the needs of vulnerable and underserved patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, findings from the sample of approximately 5,000 patients screened for social needs during ED visits and qualitative data from service providers, 211 community information specialists, ED staff, and patients revealed that effectively addressing social needs and connecting to community service providers required thoughtful, targeted approaches to develop relationships among patients and those involved in screening and outreach.