AUTHOR=McFarlane Chrissa , Finch Marquesa , Gray Tiffany R. , Fuchs Jonathan M. , Hersh William , Clouse John 

TITLE=Incentivizing Change Within Social Determinants of Health Using Blockchain Technology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Blockchain

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/blockchain/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2020.00040

DOI=10.3389/fbloc.2020.00040

ISSN=2624-7852

ABSTRACT=<p>There are growing initiatives and calls to focus greater attention to the social determinants of health (SDOH) and their impact on population health (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Heiman and Artiga, 2015</xref>). Several emerging strategies are being used to begin to address social determinants, such as the use of health impact assessments and applying health in all policies (HiAP). These strategies and tools are being implemented in an effort to review existing and needed policies, as well as to propose new policies to lessen health disparities (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">Koh et al., 2011</xref>). Efforts to further integrate SDOH through the use of health information technology and other emerging technologies, such as distributed ledger technology both in and outside of existing healthcare systems, are also increasing (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11">Koh et al., 2011</xref>). Understanding and addressing the SDOH through both traditional and non-traditional sectors is key to further reducing health disparities (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10">Heiman and Artiga, 2015</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5">Cottrell et al., 2018</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">McGinnis et al., 2002</xref>). Through exploration of the current state of SDOH in the healthcare industry, an analysis of blockchain technology will render the acceleration and adoption of SDOH to effectively provide improved health outcomes.</p>