Mission-Driven Medicine: Dr. Pablo Buitron de la Vega’s SDOH crusade, from capture to care

Listen to the episode here.

Social Determinants of Health, or SDOH, are a buzzword these days—but often little more. We acknowledge their importance, but actual progress on capture (and subsequent patient support) has been slow. To be fair real barriers including technological limitations and limited financial incentives stand in the way.

But my current guest understands better than most the major role SDOH play in patient health. He and his organization have developed a digital tool to facilitate capture and improve the lives of patients in their community. They’re making a difference.

Dr. Pablo Buitron de la Vega is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Medical Director, Preventive Medicine Residency, and Clinician Lead for the THRIVE Social Determinants of Health Program at Boston Medical Center / Boston University School of Medicine. A native of Ecuador, he’s made SDOH his mission.

On this show we cover:

• de la Vega’s long journey from Ecuador to U.S. physician, the obstacles he overcame, and how the experience shaped his mission as a provider
• Defining SDOH and common examples in his line of work as a Boston physician
• Basics of capture in ICD-10 and what makes SDOH difficult to collect
• Boston Medical Center’s SDOH capture tool, THRIVE: What it does, tangible benefits, and how your organization can get access
• Low-tech strategies for SDOH capture you can implement today
• de la Vega’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop a triage tool to help address patients’ unmet social needs