Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, dean and distinguished professor of Epidemiology of the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, is part of an Institute of Medicine ad hoc committee convened to identify social risk factors that affect the health outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries and methods to account for these factors in Medicare payment programs.

The committee released the first of five brief consensus reports this month, in which the committee presents a conceptual framework and describes the results of a literature search linking social risk factors, including socioeconomic position, to health-related measures of importance to Medicare payment and quality programs.