According to one recent estimate , cumulative poverty (earning less than 50% of median household income in at least one of the past 10 years) and current poverty are the fourth and seventh leading causes of death in the United States, respectively, on par with obesity and dementia and behind only heart disease, cancer, and tobacco use. The knowledge that financial insecurity and resulting social needs have profound effects on health has inspired organized medicine initiatives aimed at identifying and meeting those needs , such as the American Academy of Family Physicians’ (AAFP) The EveryONE Project . In a 2019 editorial , Dr. Kevin Sherin and colleagues asserted that “family physicians have a leadership role in identifying and addressing issues that affect patients beyond the clinical setting.” They highlighted the AAFP’s Neighborhood Navigator tool (formerly Aunt Bertha/findhelp), which clinicians and primary care teams can use to link patients to available community resources for...
