SONNET Newsletter
Latest issue: winter 2023
Get to know Maile Tauali‘i: Mother, farmer, community leader, and social health researcher
Maile Tauali'i, PhD, MPH, is a mom of 6 and a hula practitioner who runs a food forest farm in Oahu. She is also a KP clinical investigator and a valued member of SONNET’s Evaluation and Research Committee. Learn more about Maile's work, her connection to her community, and her advice to researchers interested in social health.
Previous issue: Summer 2022
Social Health for Everyone: Sharing SONNET survey results at national SDOH symposium
On August 11, Anand Shah and Meagan Brown will give the closing keynote at Modern Healthcare's 2022 Social Determinants of Health Symposium
Interventions Addressing Social Isolation and Loneliness: A Rapid Evidence Review
New SONNET report from ERC member Nancy Weinfield offers insights into effective interventions for 3 key populations: older adults, teens/young adults, and people who are pregnant or postpartum
Past issues
Spring 2022
Social risks: Do patients want health systems to help?
New SONNET study looks at patients' unmet social risks and their desire for assistance.
December 2021
Understanding the impacts of loneliness on Health
KP researchers conduct the largest known study on loneliness – assessing data from 24,000 KP members – to better understand the impact of loneliness on health, factors that contribute to loneliness, and what can help stop loneliness.
July 2021
How SONNET can serve as KP's nerve center for social health research and evaluation
SONNET's new directors Katie Coleman and Cara Lewis share their vision for bridging research and operations to advance social health at KP and beyond.
Sept. 28, 2020 Volume 4, Issue 3
The Impact of the Community Resource Specialist: Integrating a Lay Health Worker to Address Social Needs in Kaiser Permanente Washington clinics
By: Consuelo Marin Norris, MA, and Cara C. Lewis, PhD
March 2, 2020 Volume 4, Issue 2
Special: A note from SONNET's director, Dr. John F. Steiner
By: John F. Steiner, MD, MPH, SONNET Director and Senior Researcher at Institute for Health Research
March 2, 2020 Volume 4, Issue 1
Why Look at Social Needs?
By: Sumita Bhatia, MPH, MS, Care Management Institute (CMI)
Feb. 10, 2019 Volume 3, Issue 2
Better Opportunities for Physical Activity at Work and Home Have Positive Effects on Body Mass Index
By: Douglas W. Roblin, PhD, Mid-Atlantic Permanente Research Institute and Kristina H. Lewis , MD MPH SM, Wake Forest School of Medicine
Jan. 10, 2019 Volume 3, Issue 1
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
By: Adam L. Sharp, MD, MSc, Southern California Permanente Medical Group,, Alyssa Tjajadi-Millan, MPH, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and Tadashi T. Funahashi , MD, Kaiser Permanente Southern California
Dec. 10, 2018 Volume 2, Issue 5
Pathways to Identify Basic Resource Needs
By: John F. Steiner, MD, MPH, Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Colorado and Claudia L. Nau, PhD, Research Scientist I, Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Nov. 12, 2018 Volume 2, Issue 4
Perceptions and Experience of Patients, Staff, and Clinicians with Social Needs Assessment
By: Courtnee Hamity, PhD, Principal Consultant, Center for Evaluation & Analytics and Ana Jackson, PhD, Director of Evaluation
Sept. 10, 2018 Volume 2, Issue 3
CESR: Social Needs Patient Reported Outcomes Surveys Added to the VDW
By: Reesa Laws - Coordinating Center Manager / Technical Research Program Manager
June 19, 2018 Volume 2, Issue 2
SNAP Enrollment Program Launches in California
By: Jayme Magallanes, MPH - Senior Project Manager of National Medicaid and Charitable Health Care
May 9, 2018 Volume 2, Issue 1
Why SONNET? Why now? Why Kaiser Permanente?
By: Loel S. Solomon, PhD, Vice President of Kaiser Permanente Community Health
Dec. 13, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 4 (Story 2 of 2)
Kaiser Permanente’s Social Services Resource Locator (SSRL) Update
By: Sarita Mohanty, MD, MPH, MBA and Sarah Threlfall, MPH
Dec. 13, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 4 (Story 1 of 2)
Toward Achieving Total Health: Developing a Health System to Address Social Determinants of Health Needs
By: Matthew Banegas, PhD, MPH and Nicole L. Friedman, MS
Nov. 13, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 3
Concurrent Social Needs in Elderly KP Members with Food Insecurity
By: John F. Steiner, MD, MPH, Senior Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Oct. 16, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 2
Researchers Study How Community Health Centers Can Use EHRs to Track and Act on Patients’ Social Determinants of Health
By: Rachel Gold, PhD, MPH
Sept. 8, 2017 Volume 1, Issue 1
Identifying and Addressing Social Needs for Members with High Medical Cost: The KP Southern California Health Leads Pilot
By: Adam Sharp, MD, MS
Learn more
Our latest reports
Social risks & health care utilization
This project examined data from KP's 2020 National Social Health Survey and found that emergency room visits were 33% more likely among members with any social risk and 51% more likely among members with any severe social risk. This relationship did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social risks & racial differences in chronic illness outcomes
This project also took a deeper dive into data from KP's 2020 National Social Health Survey, finding that Black members had a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension compared to white members — and that 11% of the difference in these outcomes can be attributed to the most common social needs we observed: financial strain, food insecurity, and housing instability.
Land Acknowledgment
Our Seattle offices sit on the occupied land of the Duwamish and by the shared waters of the Coast Salish people, who have been here thousands of years and remain. Learn about practicing land acknowledgment.