Social prescribing in the USA: emerging learning and opportunities.

Abstract

The global prevalence of chronic diseases and high costs of health care are complex challenges that are driving countries to focus on addressing the social determinants of health and downstream social needs. These challenges require innovative health-care practices that integrate disease prevention, treatment, and management with salutogenic initiatives to promote population health. Many countries have turned to social prescribing as a promising approach. Social prescribing connects people with non-clinical support and services within their communities. While social prescribing has more commonly been adopted in countries with government-funded national health services, in this Viewpoint, we share learning from examples in the USA. We argue that social prescribing in the USA is unique given the heterogeneity of the country and its health systems, and that this aspect influences programme activities, target-populations, and models. These examples offer valuable lessons about the barriers and enablers to implementing social prescribing in different contexts, including privatised health-care systems. Ultimately, we call upon US stakeholders to recognise the benefits that social prescribing could bring to public health and take action to support its development. We also invite stakeholders from other countries to consider learnings from the USA and how social prescribing can be successfully implemented in their contexts.