Not owning a vehicle in New York City has negligible impact on a person’s health. Not owning one in a rural area — or even a booming metropolis like Nashville that lacks a diversified public transportation system — can be life-threatening. This tale of two cities suggests that transportation, perhaps more than any other social determinant of health, illustrates the link between ZIP code, disparities and health outcomes. The importance of transportation Missing medical appointments due to lack of transportation is a stark example of how SDOH can directly impact health outcomes. The ability to get where and when you need to is also connected to other social determinants of health domains such as finance, food and housing. However, one study found that transportation is found in fewer SDOH assessment tools (66%) than any other metric besides social and community context (61%) and physical activity (33%). Addressing transportation inequality begins with knowing how it impacts populations

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) releases updates annually to the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Standards and Guidelines. Any primary care practice, whether first transforming to achieve PCMH recognition, or a practice seeking to maintain recognition, must implement and demonstrate the core criteria of the PCMH standards and guidelines. NCQA has added numerous elective criteria for practices to pursue to ensure they have an adequate amount of credits to achieve recognition between the mandatory core and elective criteria available. Practices should visit the NCQA website for the latest version (v8) of the standards and guidelines , released on July 1, 2022. Health equity An update made this year is to best align with the Health Equity Accreditation/Plus program offered by NCQA. Also, in response to lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, PCMHs should be positioned to understand what vulnerabilities and social determinants may impact their patients