The SINCERE Intervention to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities

Intensifying Community Referrals for Health: The SINCERE Intervention to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities

The goal of this real world efficacy study is to understand the benefit of universal social needs screening, community-based service referrals, and telephonic follow-up as a scalable strategy for preventing COVID-19 transmission, and for addressing the secondary health effects of the social, behavioral, and economic changes following the COVID-19 pandemic. With statewide community service providers, existing health information technology, and piloted methods, we seek to determine the effectiveness of universal social needs screening and community service referrals - the SINCERE intervention - in improving health outcomes of COVID-19 vulnerable and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and whether intensive follow-up and collaborative goal-setting helps overcome barriers to community service use by patients seen in the emergency department and seeking COVID testing at community-based and mobile clinic locations.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult (> 17 years)
• English or Spanish speaking
• Completed the referral process at the UHealth ED, one of the COVID-19 testing sites or the Primary Children's ED and indicated both social needs and willingness to receive service low- and no-cost referrals from the United Way 211 community referral service
• Able to be reached by phone during the intervention OR able to complete surveys sent by text or email

Exclusion Criteria:

• Those unable to communicate verbally
• Those living in nursing facilities, or those who are not otherwise responsible for self-care