Those of us in healthcare understand that the pandemic represents just one more example of the disproportionate negative impact of health issues on people of color. As stated in a 2017 National Institutes of Health report, “For racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, health disparities take on many forms, including higher rates of chronic disease and premature death compared to the rates among whites.”1 The current situation reinforces the importance of confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health status. In working to close these gaps, we can leverage the evolving focus on social determinants of health (SDoH) as the foundation of this effort. As physicians, we were all trained in medical school on how to take a complete medical history, and that includes a social history. Unfortunately for many of us, the focus of social history was mainly on tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Beyond that, social history emphasized identifying factors that might help lead to a diagnosis such as potential exposure to harmful substances or contagions. So, for example, we were taught that in a child with constipation and behavioral changes you might ask about housing to assess the likelihood of lead poisoning. In that context, it’s not surprising to see healthcare providers struggling to both effectively capture SDoH information and act on the information for the benefit of their patients. However, if we are to effectively intervene to reduce health disparities, we need to utilize SDoH information not just to make a diagnosis, but to ensure that patients have the resources, knowledge, and life circumstances that enable them to manage their health. While it’s important to know if a patient is at risk for lead poisoning, it’s also critical to know if they can refrigerate their insulin reliably or if their work situation allows for them to take time for an appointment. Do they have transportation challenges or financial constraints creating barriers to care?