In January, I wrote a Medscape commentary about the mixed evidence that routinely screening patients for social needs improves health outcomes. Although many patients could benefit from assistance with necessities like food, housing, or transportation, screening for social needs only works if patients are prepared to accept help and realistic options exist to provide it: There are also downsides to screening, which takes time and can distract from the purpose of the visit. ... Many of my patients decline social work referrals, leading me to wonder why we screened them in the first place if they knew that they would not want assistance. For others, referrals may be wasting their time and giving them false hope. Social workers can’t magically produce affordable housing in the midst of a national housing shortage or provide regular access to healthy meals — especially after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were cut by hundreds of millions of dollars . In his 2020 Pr...