TOPLINE:

A survey found only 38.7% of adults had ever been screened for social needs, patients often used referrals when clinics offered them, and more than half of patients were willing to use medical-legal partnerships, with higher interest in rural areas and varying across groups.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a web-based survey to understand patients’ experiences with screening for social needs in primary care and their willingness to use collaborations between legal and primary care teams, known as medical-legal partnerships.
• They included 502 US adults (mean age, 45 years; 51.3% female) who had visited a primary care provider in the prior year. Participants completed the survey in November 2024; most lived in urban areas.
• Participants answered questions such as whether they were screened for social needs and reported their views and preferences on screening and referrals, any talks with clinicians, their comfort and willingness to use medical-legal partnerships, and basic demographic details.

TAKEAWAY:

• Overall, 38.7% of participants reported being screened for social needs. Among those not offered screening or who didn’t complete one, 36.8% believed their clinic should implement it.
• Among those screened, 51% received a referral, and 79% used it; only 19% were referred to legal assistance. Among all participants, 90.4% were willing to receive a referral, and 52% preferred getting it through the patient portal.
• Overall, 53.1% of participants were willing to use medical-legal partnerships. The odds of willingness were higher among rural residents (odds ratio [OR], 1.79; 95% CI, 1.07-3.01) and among those who had completed a screening for social needs (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.05-2.06) than among their respective counterparts.
• Non-Hispanic Black adults had 38% lower odds of being willing to use medical-legal partnerships, and adults who received public benefits had 33% lower odds than their respective counterparts.

IN PRACTICE:

“Results from this study suggest that, upon exposure, patients are willing to participate in SNS [social needs screening] as part of their primary care. Information from SNS can be used to connect patients to community resources, and as is the resource of interest, legal services that patients believe can assist with a host of social needs like housing instability, food insecurity, and health insurance issues,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jamelia D. Graham, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was published online on January 7, 2026, in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health.

LIMITATIONS:

Participants reported their experiences on their own and may not have recalled details accurately. The survey did not assess whether participants understood what medical-legal partnerships are.

DISCLOSURES:

The study received partial support from a Translational Science Fellowship award to one author for her doctoral work. The fellowship was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.