Piloting Social Prescribing for Elderly Patients Experiencing Loneliness

As the U.S. population ages (it is expected to surpass 80 million individuals aged 65 and older by 2040), loneliness among older adults has become a public health crisis.

We propose a rigorous pilot implementing social prescribing, an innovative care model by which primary care providers connect patients with community-based activities to treat loneliness and improve quality of life. Social prescribing has shown promise globally, particularly in the United Kingdom, which has scaled nationally over the past six years. However, its implementation in the U.S. remains limited.

Our proposal aims to fill this gap through a well-defined, single-site pilot study built into the primary care setting, in partnership with a large US not-for-profit health plan. This study will involve a sample of older adults at risk for loneliness, depression or anxiety, and high healthcare utilization, who will be prescribed community-based activities for 6-12 weeks. The intervention will be implemented using the traditional link worker model for social prescribing, with that link worker facilitating connections between patients, primary care providers, and community organizations. The pilot will assess the impact of social prescribing on patient outcomes through quantitative measures (mood states, wellbeing scale, loneliness scale, healthcare visits) and qualitative feedback from patients and providers.

If successful, the findings from this pilot could be rapidly implemented and scaled through our large partner institution and hold high potential to transform how we care for our aging population across the United States.