About Us - NASDOH

Founded in 2018 by Governor Mike Leavitt and Dr. Karen DeSalvo, NASDOH is a multi-sector coalition of stakeholders seeking to make a material improvement in the health of individuals and communities by advancing the adoption of effective policies and programs to address health-related social needs (HRSNs) – such as food insecurity, housing instability, and transportation insecurity – as well as the underlying social and economic conditions in which people live that are often the root causes of poor health outcomes (non-medical drivers). NASDOH brings together stakeholders from different geographic regions with expertise in health care, public health, social services, patient and consumer perspectives, information technology, and business to share learnings, develop policy recommendations, and build consensus on solutions to support health.

Co-Founders

Governor Michael O. Leavitt

Former US Secretary of Health and Human Services

Administrator of US Environmental Protection Agency

Founder of Leavitt Partners

Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH

Former Health Commissioner, City of New Orleans

Former US Health and Human Services Acting Assistant Secretary

Former Chief Health Officer, Google Health

Guiding Principles

By addressing the broad and interconnected array of factors that influence health we can effectively help all people and communities to be healthier, achieve well-being, and thrive economically.
Strategies that address the social determinants of health should be developed with people and communities and reflect their values, assets, and needs.
Meaningfully impacting health and well-being requires multi-sectoral partnerships across the private and public sectors.
The private sector, including employers and businesses, has an integral role to play through private-sector action, policy work, engaging in public-private partnerships, and civic leadership.
Public health departments and human and social services sectors are essential partners in efforts to address the social determinants of health and will need significant financial and human capital investments.
Efforts to address the social determinants of health should build upon existing gains in the health care system and advance equitable access to affordable, quality care.

Successfully transforming to a value-based health care system requires care and payment models that address the social determinants of health.
Digital strategies should be leveraged to transform and improve health and well-being including promoting bidirectional information flow with appropriate attention to privacy, respectful use, and data security as a priority in data collection, sharing, and use.
Measuring the impact of social determinants of health interventions should balance the goals and interests of sectors and affected people and communities.
The substantial body of successful evidence-based approaches to better integrate social determinants of health approaches into the health system can inform immediate action; however, there is a continuing need to experiment and build the evidence base, and for policies that encourage the development of additional evidence.