Law and the Social Determinants of Health

In the last few decades, the concept of “social determinants of health” (SDOH) has received extensive traction in medicine and public health law. The concept involves looking at how social determinants like income, housing, employment, crime, and the like, affect health outcomes. Administrative agencies began to include the concept in rulemaking starting in the early 2000s, with integration increasing in the 2010s. Congress included the term in lawmaking starting in 2020. SDOH are considered to be important tools to achieve health equity and produce superior outcomes. This course examines the history of the SDOH concept starting in the 19th Century, the international role it played even as it was ignored in the United States; the interaction of SDOH with questions of race, LGBT issues, and sexual orientation/gender identity, among others; questions of surveillance, privacy; and deeper questions involving health policy, ranging from how to conceptualize SDOH within public and clinical health frameworks, to issues involving reimbursement and clinical care guidelines.